Urbs Spei: City of Hope
by Ascanius
Summary: Sequel to 'Urbs Sanguinis': One year after their encounter, Sara and the Scoobies continue to prepare as Amy consolidates her power. In these dark times, hope can be a perilous thing... Part II in a BuffyWitchblade Crossover.
1. Chapter I

_The television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all related characters and materials belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and UPN. Witchblade and all characters related are properties of Top Cow Comics and TNT Productions._

**Majin Gojira: **There were at least four times in Buffy (that I can remember) that she never sensed vampires even though they were less than two feet from her. I would say that the power to sense vampires is, at best, underdeveloped or, at worst, inconsistent. As for Buffy "sensing" Sara, rather than having her sense generic evil, I likened it to two predators where one entered the others' territory. I want that type of relationship to, at least, slightly affect both characters.

**_Here is the sequel to my previous story, "Urbs Sanguinis". If you haven't read it, go and do so (please). Since I'm short on intros..._**

Synopsis: Amy has been consolidating her power base as Sara and the Scoobies, along with Slayers, have been training and preparing.

**URBS SPEI: CHAPTER I**

* * *

"Are you ready?" 

"Ready."

The young Slayer circled around the blindfolded figure before her. Like a cat, she was poised and ready to strike, to seize upon any opportunity to dominate her opponent. The blindfolded woman held her guard up, trying as best she could to sense the area around her and gauge her opponent's distance.

The Slayer led out with a punch, which was quickly blocked by the woman. She then threw out two punches, a right and a left in succession. Those, too, were blocked. It was then that the dance had begun.

The Slayer soon was a flurry of punches and spinning backfists, the woman parrying, blocking, and ducking each one. The woman countered with her own jabs and crosses, the Slayer avoiding them like it was natural. It was a like a deadly ballet, each trying to outdo the other in movement.

Soon, though, a blow had landed. The Slayer had connected with woman's face. But the woman retaliated, throwing punches and kicks until she grabbed the Slayer's wrist and backfisted her right on the bridge of her nose. Recovering from her blow quickly, the Slayer stood back in a ready stance, poised to strike again.

She moved forward and attacked, her movements a mixture of kung fu, karate, and Western boxing. The blindfolded woman blocked and parried successfully, until she was met with a jump side kick to her chest. She fell down and rolled backward until she started to stand, the Slayer advancing toward her to capitalize on the moment.

The woman had only a moment to react when she grabbed the approaching figure, dropped down to the ground, and use her leg to propel the Slayer over. The Slayer landed with a thud, but quickly got up and returned to her fighting stance, ready to continue.

"And time!" yelled Rupert Giles, looking at both combatants, their breathing moderately accelerated.

The woman took off her blindfold. Detective Sara Pezzini and Rupert Giles had included the blindfolded-fighting aspect into Sara's training, to help her out in combat situations. The intention was to assess and maximize the fabled Witchblade's abilities. Giles had only recently added this to her training, teaching her meditation and concentration techniques before anything else. He was hoping that they provided some measure of control over the gauntlet's overpowering effects.

"How'd I do, Giles?" Sara asked.

"You did well, but there are still some things we need to work out in terms of technique. Other than that, you did fine. What do you think, Kennedy?"

"I'd say she's only gotten better, which is scary since she was pretty good before," the girl replied. As field commander under famed Slayer Buffy Summers, Kennedy knew a good fighter when she saw one. She had journeyed to New York City a year ago, after Buffy, Giles, Sara, and her girlfriend, uber-witch and part-time hacker Willow Rosenberg, had an... encounter with Amy Madison. The four had felt that more Slayers would be needed to take on their newest threat. More so, Kennedy had desired to be close to her girlfriend.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Sara replied, smiling. A year ago, she was ready to put Giles and his crew in the slammer for interfering with a police investigation. Now, she was not only training with him, but also providing consultation services to the new Watchers' Council and the Slayers. And her counsel could not come at a more needed time. Amy Madison, now Amy Madison-Vitelli, had copied her own Witchblade from Sara's wrist, an action which was preceded by a string of vicious murders designed to facilitate it.

But what was even more disturbing was Amy's collaboration with organized crime. After the demise of Genovese and Carlo Vitelli, a power vacuum was left to fill, and Amy was only too happy to fill it. In the past year, she had taken majority control of the Italian Mafia in New York. What was more astounding was the fact that the Yakuza, the Russians, and the Triads started bending to her will. Those who didn't often met with either untimely, or unknown, demises. Few in the criminal underworld knew how a woman, a previous unknown woman at that, was able to integrate herself into their "old boys' club" and take control. But Sara and the Scoobies knew. They knew that Amy was part of _two_ underworlds, one criminal and one supernatural. If any dared oppose her, a cadre of vampires could deal with them without notice and without danger of prosecution. To know that Amy could get to anyone, anywhere, at anytime had made a majority of the rest fall in line.

To combat Amy's power-grabbing, Buffy, Willow, and Giles formally established a base in New York and set about finding the Slayers in the city. While a few from the Sunnydale battle had been transported to the city, it was still a daunting venture to find and gather each New York Slayer. But once they did, things moved like clockwork. With a few renovations to the building, the New York Slayer headquarters started to bustle with work. And over the past year, the fifteen Slayers that had been discovered had gotten a rude awakening to what was in store for them. While Amy and her goons had never _directly_ attacked them, her presence was felt too many times on patrol. Whether it was a vampire hit or a demon raid on the local competition, Amy wanted to make sure she let it be known who was running things.

It had been stressful on them all. The Scoobies had speculated as to why Amy hadn't really come after them. They had three theories, each of them valid. One was that Amy didn't want to take the chance of killing a New York detective investigating her. The second theory was that since Angel and Co. was running the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram & Hart, any attack on Buffy and her friends might spur retaliatory action against Amy. Then there was the third theory, which was the most disturbing: that Amy didn't see them as a threat. If that were the case, then she would never worry about what they were planning. In any event, they were all counting their blessings... for now.

"Well, see you guys. I want to catch a little bit of the Yankees game before bed," Sara said, picking up her bag.

"It's important that you're here tomorrow night. Are you sure you're free?" asked Giles.

"Yeah, Giles, trust me. I'll be here tomorrow at 6:00 pm. Good night, guys."

"See you, Pez," Kennedy said as she waved. As soon as the detective was out of earshot, Giles asked the dark-haired Slayer, "Do you think she's ready?"

"I don't know," she replied. Turning to Giles she asked, "Are you sure about this, I mean, what you're planning tomorrow?"

"Are you having reservations about it?" Giles inquired. "You seemed to agree with the plan when I first mentioned it."

"Yeah, I did. But now that I think more about it, is it really necessary?"

"Yes, it is. Sara has learned a lot over the past year. We went over meditation techniques in the first six months and extending her combat skills in the past six. But I want to test her control. I want to know if she can tame the Witchblade's impulses when it really matters. That's why we're doing what we're doing tomorrow."

"Fine. But what if she fails?" Kennedy asked.

Giles just looked at her briefly before turning and walking toward the training room door. Staring at him as he left, Kennedy let out a great sigh.


	2. Chapter II

**Majin Gojira**: There is a Buffy RPG? That's really interesting. I've never seen one in any store (then again, I rarely shop). However, I qualified my previous statement saying that Buffy's ability is underdeveloped at best. She _innately_ has the ability to sense vampires, but I don't think she's ever really cultivated it. The quote in the first episode can be interpreted to mean that. I would think that if she trained herself, she could get it to the point where it could almost be like breathing, like Cable in X-Men keeping his techno-virus at bay. He makes a conscious (or subconscious) effort to do so, but it became natural to him.

However, since we're talking about "sensing" the Witchblade, I'll stick to that. The "generic evil" sensing doesn't exist for Buffy. However, the Witchblade is a special entity that has a volatile personality. One problem I had with pairing them up is I had no clue if they would just get along or if they would clash because of what they each possess. There is no frame of reference since no one has paired them (wink, wink Dark Horse and Top Cow). So, I made stuff up as best I could, maybe even setting a precedent for future pairings. And that's going to have an impact on how Sara relates to the other Slayers. Trust me, I think you're going to like it.

Dialogue like this keeps a writer from getting ridiculous.

* * *

Sara woke up to the sound of her alarm and quickly got out of bed. She wasn't exhausted at all. As a matter of fact, she was actually quite awake and refreshed. Ever since she started the training and meditation sessions with Giles, she had become more focused, less stressed, and a little more energetic. She was more than skeptical when Giles had started their sessions. She had quite the confidence in his abilities as a Watcher to Slayers, but the Witchblade was something that was relatively unknown. However, after a few weeks of seeing the benefits of Giles' teaching, she was hooked. She thought that if Buffy could turn into a better fighter with Giles' aid, then she could too. 

Over the past year she and Buffy had gotten along, more or less. The matter of Amy had, in some sense, brought them together. Of course, it was that same matter that emotionally divided them both. They still had no clue as to why the Witchblade would ever attach itself to Amy, let alone stay with her. Sara herself had to successfully complete the Periculum, the test of worthiness given by the wielders before her, and she was sure as hell that _none _of them would ever have given Amy a passing grade. The frustration of just how she had passed the test boiled within her. It frustrated Buffy in particular, since they were essentially at square one for most of the year. Her aggravation with the situation had spilled over more than a few times onto Sara, causing a clash of words... and sometimes much more.

While they still had plenty of other arguments to keep themselves busy, and on more than one occasion nearly come to blows, they had come far in their understanding of each other. It didn't help that the Witchblade, deep down inside, always wanted to pick a fight with the girl. It was territorial and, while it never affected Sara a great deal, the feeling was still there. To the Witchblade, Buffy and the Slayers were competition. And the gauntlet made that fact known. Though it became benign as they all became better acquainted, they nevertheless felt its contempt for them all. It radiated its hostility toward each and every one of them. But the Slayers took it in stride as best they could, shrugging off the feeling to fight. For Sara however, it was more difficult. And since Buffy was 'head of the pack', the Witchblade felt particularly inclined to loathe _her_. The fact that both Sara and Buffy bashed the other's face in a year ago didn't help matters. But with Giles' help, Sara had made the desire to fight the girl much more manageable.

As she was getting ready, she thought more about the blond Slayer. Buffy had taken time off a few months after their confrontation with Amy, and for good reason. About three and a half months ago, Buffy and Sara had taken the Slayers on a routine patrol, part training and part mission. Things had been going well… until one of the newer girls had gotten injured when the vampire she faced stabbed her in the leg with her own stake. It was then something weird happened: Buffy lost it. She grabbed the vamp and let loose. She didn't stake him or anything, but pummeled him continuously. The girls were stunned at Buffy and what she was doing. Sara had been told about Angel and read about his evil counterpart in some of Giles' books. Needless to say, she felt that had Angelus been witness to what the head Slayer did next with the stake she hand in her hand, he would have taken notes. Only by Sara throwing Buffy off of the vamp and beheading it herself did everything stop. It was one of those occasions that nearly had both of them coming to blows.

When they had gotten back, it was decided by Sara, Giles, Willow, Kennedy, and Rona that Buffy needed some serious time off. They had all felt that after eight years of slaying and commanding, the stress had finally gotten to her. This time, Buffy agreed. Giles was secretly relieved at her compliance, since he didn't want to make an 'executive decision' and formally relieve her of command. Though Buffy was more than a little apprehensive of leaving her Slayers to possibly fight Amy alone, she knew she would be no good to them if she cracked at the slightest thing. Determining it was for the best, she left Kennedy in charge and decided on her destination: Rome, to see her sister. Unfortunately, that also meant seeing Andrew, since he was holed up in Rome with her to train as a Watcher, as well as act as somewhat of a guardian in conjunction with one of the surviving Watchers mentoring him. To hear Dawn tell it, _she_ was acting more of a guardian to him.

They had heard from Buffy from time to time about Rome or, more specifically, her new guy in Rome: the Immortal. As Sara looked in the mirror, she started to envy Buffy meeting someone. In her line of work, and with the Witchblade along for the ride, she felt that starting a relationship with a guy would be hazardous to his health. Her thoughts drifted to Conchobar, barely remembering how that incident ended (the first time), and their subsequent reacquaintance. She sighed in frustration. Brushing aside the troublesome matter, Sara put on her gun and holster and left for work.

**_  
_****_ 7:30 am, Thursday – 11th Precinct_**

"Hey, Jake. How'd that date go last night?" Sara asked.

"The food was interesting. My date, however, wasn't. You'd think being an actor she would be, but she kept going on and on about her auditions and work. I just told her I had to get to the precinct early and left it at that."

"Sorry to hear about that, man," Danny replied.

"Yeah, it wasn't pleasant. Anyway, what was in the toxicology report on Charles Shue?" Jake asked.

"The ME confirmed arsenic in his bloodstream," Sara replied. "I want to head to that restaurant later on to find out how it got there, but first I want to hit Mr. Shue's workplace,"

"Let me know when you're going and I can get a bite to eat on the way. The food from my date was 'interesting', but it wasn't good."

"Pezzini, Woo, McCartey: What's the story on that poisoning at the restaurant?"

"Toxicology report confirmed arsenic poisoning, Cap," Jake replied. Captain Frank Akins was the 'new kid on the block' in the precinct, but had a distinguished career in law enforcement in Philadelphia and Chicago. After Dante's involvement with The White Bulls came to light, the higher-ups shuffled quickly to get out the old and corrupted blood. It took all of Sara's will and restraint not to pummel him, particularly after he fired her. However, Akins was suspicious of Dante's motives and carefully reviewed Sara's record. Though he was less than pleased at her penchant for unorthodoxy, he nevertheless saw potential. One thing that Sara _did _have going for her was Akins disgust with dishonest cops. He figured that if Dante didn't like her she must have been, at the very least, an honest one. She was welcomed back after a stern lecture by the captain on his extreme dislike of cops who couldn't take direction. Despite being a little gruff and a bit pit-bullish in the mornings, Sara liked the guy enough to respect him.

"We're heading over to his workplace right now, then hit the restaurant," Sara added. "We analyzed the surveillance tapes, but we're coming up short."

"Alright, see if any of his co-workers or associates had an unhealthy dislike of Mr. Shue. We'll see if any visited the restaurant that day."

"Got it, Captain," replied Jake.

_**  
**__**5:54 pm, Thursday – Slayer Base HQ**_

The day had gone by pretty fast. Sara and Jake had interviewed the restaurateurs and a few associates of Mr. Shue. From then on, it was mostly paperwork. Sara knew that a lot of folks thought being a cop was about chasing the bad guy down an alley and cornering him. Well, okay, so she did do more than her fair share of that, but there were a lot of days just sitting around going over paperwork and such. It was the non-glamorous aspect of the job, if she could term any of it as glamorous.

She had asked Danny to cover for her tonight, telling him she'd return the favor later on. She offered some lame excuse about getting her bike looked at, but it worked. She ventured over to the Slayer headquarters as she promised Giles. No one was there except Rupert, walking around with a book in his hand. He noticed Sara and greeted her.

"Hello, Sara."

"Hey, Giles. So what's so urgent you had me come over here?"

Giles set down the book he was perusing and approached Sara. "How has your progress been, in terms of controlling the Witchblade?"

Sara just looked at him confusingly and answered, "It's been pretty good, especially the meditating. I've been thinking of taking a few tai chi classes to help."

"That's good," Giles replied. Taking a moment, he continued. "Well, the reason you're here is because Kennedy, Rona, myself, and a few of the more experienced Slayers are going on a mission tonight of utmost importance: acquisition of an object that Amy wants. But we haven't determined the location, since we only learned about the object a few days ago."

"Okay, so where do I come in?" Sara asked.

Grabbing a sword Giles walked with her toward the door leading to the basement and said, "Down in the basement, in the holding cell, there is a vampire we just captured early this morning. Our sources told us that this one would be our best chance at getting our information. Your job will be to interrogate him to get the information, while the others are preparing and trying to gather more information."

"Fine, no problem," she said. Just as she was about to make her way toward the steps, Giles spoke.

"Here," he said, handing the sword to Sara.

"Giles, in case you forgot, I already have a weapon," she said, slightly confused.

"This isn't for you. It's for him."

"What?"

"The vampire will be armed."

Sara was taken aback, hoping that she heard him wrong. "Care to repeat that?"

"The vampire will be armed," he said.

"Why?"

"Because I saw this as a unique opportunity to test your self-control. I have to know how you perform under intense pressure."

"I face intense pressure everyday at work! I've patrolled with the girls a few times. Giles, you know I'm fine."

"Do I? You've gone on a few patrols and training missions, yes, but even then they involved killing everything that didn't have a pulse. Here, you're going to have to acquire something and _not_ lay waste to everything in your path. I have to know that in delicate situations you can be counted on. That's why we're doing this test. You have to extract the information from the vampire before killing him."

"Kennedy or someone must have gotten it out of him earlier. I have a hard time believing you'd sacrifice a 'mission of utmost importance' on a stunt like this," she said. Steely-eyed, she was hoping he'd flinch when she called his bluff. He didn't.

"She didn't, and I would. I told everyone he was not to be touched. Don't get me wrong, this _is _a very important mission. But much more important is the need to know whether or not the person next to those girls won't inadvertently put their lives in danger, so important that I'd willingly sacrifice tonight's mission. I agonized over this, Sara, and I didn't come to the decision lightly. But their safety must take precedence. You even told me yourself that you didn't notice Amy's henchmen were herding you when you went into the warehouse because you were too busy fighting."

Sara blanched. She was hurt and shocked, not only by that statement, but also by the fact that he had a look in his eye that said he wasn't above planning all of this out. For Giles, failing to notice the trap last year seemed to be reason enough warrant this 'test'.

"I know you, Giles... and I don't believe you," she said.

"Then perhaps you don't know me as well as you think."

Sara just stared at him. Either he was telling the truth, or it was the most convincing bluff she'd ever seen. "Alright, Giles," she retorted, looking determined to prove him and all the Slayers wrong. "I'll do this test... and I'll pass." Walking down the steps to the basement with him she didn't look at him the entire time. She watched as he looked through the glass window and opened the reinforced steel door. "See you in a few, Giles."

"Likewise," he replied. Hoping that she would at least look him in the eye before journeying in, she didn't even turn around to face him. With that, he shut and locked the door.

Sara looked at the vamp on the floor. He had a look of rage on his face that told her he was ready to rip her throat out. But Sara wasn't intimidated. She'd faced some pretty nasty fiends before, both fanged and non-fanged. She started to approach the vamp when he spoke.

"Love having all these tasty young girls around here, but sometimes you just need a real woman to sink your teeth into. You know, someone with… experience."

"Nice," Sara said sarcastically. "Look, don't think you're going to fool me. I know the chains are broken."

"Aw, my surprise is ruined," he quipped in mock disappointment. "So, they stick you in here to face big, bad me, huh? To see if you got what it takes to join their little club? Maybe they got a little tree house too."

Throwing the sword into the vampire's hands Sara merely said, "Just shut up and fight."

Shrugging, the vampire simply said, "Okay."

Before Sara could react, the vampire leapt up and propelled himself toward her, his sword bearing down on her. Luckily, she unsheathed her blade to block it. The vampire came at her aggressively, cutting and slashing as best he could. But Sara was able to block and parry. It seemed to be going her way... until he punched her right in the jaw. Stumbling back, she regained herself as the vampire advanced. Blocking, she slipped in close to the vampire, face to face, their blades in-between them. They struggled, each one trying to over power the other. Sara finally elbowed him with her right, kneed him in the groin, and then elbowed him again in the nose, breaking it. The vampire fell to the ground, his nose bleeding. She held her sword to his throat, the Witchblade urging her to finish him. Its desire coursed through her body, through the recesses of her very mind, telling her to eradicate her prey. It was like fire, burning through her blood. She pushed back her urges, grabbed him and set him up against the wall, producing her short blade and holding it to his neck.

"You're going to tell me where that meeting place is for Amy's new toy. Someone's delivering something for her and we want the location."

"Alright, alright," he said. "I'll tell you."

Sara relaxed for a split-second. But a split-second was all it took. The vampire grabbed her and headbutted her. She stumbled back and tried to steady herself.

"Right after I drain you."

The vampire approached again, ready to kill his prey. In her stupor, the vampire sunk his teeth into her neck and started to drink. Sara yelled loudly in pain. But that yell of pain soon turned into one full of rage. She stuck her blade in his gut with all her might. Her fury unabated, she withdrew the blade and swiped at his neck. All that was left in the room was a slightly beaten woman, some chains, and a pile of dust.

As Sara regained her composure, she realized what she had done. In shock and disappointment, she just looked down at her hands, ashamed of what they had accomplished. They had just made the evening's mission a total wash. A few seconds later the door opened, Giles standing over the threshold.

"I guess I failed, huh? Disappointed that all that training was for nothing?" she asked in a self-flagellating manner, not even wanting to look at him.

"I am disappointed," he replied. To Sara, the comment pricked her heart.

"Not with you," he amended, "but with our progress. We still have much work to do in getting you to control the Witchblade's impulses and we may need to think of some new approaches."

Sara was at least partially relieved because of Giles' words. To know that he _didn't_ think of her as a failure made the situation a little better. "I guess the mission's a bust," she said.

"Quite the contrary, Willow extracted the information a few days ago on a mission with Kennedy and Rona. The vampire had no memory at all that she did it."

Sara was surprised. She had plenty of people in interrogation rooms try to bluff their way out of jail time. She knew how to spot a bluff and call it. The fact that Giles got one past her made her wonder just what he did back in the day to get so good at it.

"Just in case, huh?" she asked.

"Just in case." Giles replied. "Just don't be mad with them. I convinced them to do this and they all were quite reluctant."

"I'm not mad," she replied. "Just frustrated."

"Well, we'd best get ready for tonight," said Giles, sensing the awkwardness in the air.

"If it's alright, Giles, I'm going to stay down here and work on those meditation techniques for awhile; clear my head."

"Of course," he said understandingly. "Come up when you're done."

"I will."

As soon as Giles shut the door to the basement, Sara put her hands over her face and slowly wept. She tried for so long to get control of the thing on her wrist, but when it really counted, she lost it. She began to wonder whether her life would be relegated to the dichotomy of the Witchblade: bearing and wielding it like a master, but exercising its desires too many times like a servant. In some ways, though, the side of servitude seemed to be winning out. It already dictated how she related to people. She was distant with her colleagues and always felt somewhat removed from what few friends she did have. It had stolen so much of her life and was still taking even more. She had hoped that with Giles' help, things would get better. _There's that word again_, she thought. _Hope_._ Seems to be in short supply these days_. Composing herself and wiping the tears from her eyes, she sat down Indian-style and closed her eyes. She was determined that even if she could never fully control the Witchblade, she would at least give it her best shot. She slowly started her breathing techniques, quickly letting herself get lost in their rhythm.


	3. Chapter III

_**9:03 pm, Thursday – Slayer Base HQ**_

Kennedy approached the group prepped and ready to hand out the details of the mission plan. "Alright, listen up people, 'cause I'm only going over this once: Deirdre and Monica, you guys are crack shots with the crossbow. I want you two to take the higher ground and cover us. Adrienne, Penny, Ling, and Michelle; you guys take surrounding positions around their cars. I don't want to lose them in the area. Rona, Giles, Sara, and myself will come up the front. Got it?"

The girls nodded in response.

"Anything to add, Sara?"

"Yeah," she replied. "From what I heard, these may not be your average axe-and-sword baddies. These guys are delivering something for Amy and they could be packing heat. Be ready for it. Monica and Deirdre: if that happens, you guys need to be 'Janey-on-the-spot' with those crossbows."

"Okay," Kennedy continued, "let's make it a nice smash-and-grab job. Buffy's coming back in a week, and I want the 'Welcome Home' present to be something of Amy's. Mind your teammate and watch your six." After that, the girls headed out back to get into the vans.

"A little over-dramatic." Willow said to Giles.

"Most definitely," he replied. He then turned to Sara, who was looking worried. "Are you nervous, Sara? Being a detective, I'd thought you'd be used to this."

"I'm not worried about me," she replied. "I'm worried about those girls out there. I know that you, me, Willow, Kennedy, Rona, and some of the trained ones have done some covert night raids a few times, but for some of these girls this is their first _real_ mission." A young girl, about fifteen, came to them huffing and puffing while carrying an axe.

"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late, but I had to handle some stuff."

Giles looked at the girl, clearly annoyed. "Tina, we've had this conversation. You're not ready yet for a live mission."

"But I am ready! I took down a vamp two weeks ago," she replied defiantly.

"He _fell_ on your stake." Giles shot back. "Look, I know you want to prove yourself, but you're sitting this one out until you've been thoroughly trained."

"Hey, we're ready to move out," Kennedy said as she came in. "Tina, what are you doing?"

"I want to go too."

"No! You just started out and I don't want you getting hurt," Kennedy snapped.

"Come on," Tina pleaded. "Willow?"

"Sorry, Tina."

"Sara?"

"Look, kid. I know you want to go major league, but you're not there yet. Just go back home."

"Sara…"

"Now," she said in a serious, unrelenting tone.

"Okay." The girl walked away, dejected, mumbling to herself in frustration.

"A bunch of Slayers here and who does she listen to? You," Kennedy said to Sara, confounded.

"It's the cop thing, always gets 'em."

"Let's move out then," Giles said.

"Good luck tonight, guys. I'll stay here with Marie and Diane to 'hold the fort'."

_**  
10:02 pm, Thursday – Tribeca**_

The Slayers had arrived about half a mile from the meeting spot. The meeting was arranged for 10:30 and they saw the points to take position and wait out. The vans were hidden in inconspicuous locations and they all put themselves into position. Sara sat with Giles, Kennedy, and Rona, hoping that everything would go as smoothly as planned. If they could disrupt whatever plans Amy had, it would go a long way to figuring out what she wanted and how to stop her.

"So what do you think Amy plans on getting?" Kennedy asked.

"I have no clue," Giles replied. "But whatever it is, it seems important enough for us to intercept. That's all I care about."

"Ditto," replied Rona.

"Watch out," Sara quickly whispered. They all huddled down behind the gravel mound, as a limousine came by. It was five minutes before the meeting was set to begin and the players were rounding up to meet. The car stopped and a figure in a gray coat stepped out. Sara waited anxiously for things to get started. The sooner they did this, the sooner they would all be home... and the sooner she could stop worrying about the young Slayers, at least for the night.

Three minutes later, two more limousines came up. Stopping a couple of yards away from the previous car, the occupants exited and approached the man in the gray coat. Getting a good look through her binoculars, Sara saw Sean Davidson, Amy' personal attendant. She started to think that if he came to the meeting, then what the Scoobies were planning on acquiring must have been pretty important.

"I see Amy's cabana boy there," she said.

"Sean? This thing must be pretty important to Amy," Rona replied.

"Yeah, I know. Kennedy, hit the light."

Kennedy brought a light pen. She had given one to each of the groups, to signal each other when ready. Flashing two clicks of the pen to the 'snipers' on the walkway, she then flashed the two Slayers on the right flank, which in turn flashed the two on the left.

"Ready?" she asked her comrades.

Sara had her gun drawn and said, "Ready."

Rushing out, the small force rushed out like trained soldiers. Monica and Deirdre had taken positions above the group, just like they were told, while the left and right flanks closed in. Sara rushed ahead of Kennedy, gun trained on Sean.

"Freeze! Nobody move!"

"Detective Pezzini, fancy seeing you out here. Is there something wrong?" Sean innocently inquired.

"Shut up, Sean," Sara replied.

"We weren't doing anything illegal."

"No, but I don't think you came here to discuss the cure for cancer," she quipped.

"Right now you've got a gun and two crossbows, aimed at you and your cronies, with a bunch of Slayers backing them up," Kennedy said, standing ready with her sword. "So hand over whatever you're getting for Amy and no one gets hurt."

"Sorry, I can't do that," Sean replied.

Sara was indignant. The little upstart was putting on airs with a gun pointed at him. "I don't think you heard her, Sean. She said hand over the package for Amy or there's going to be a serious problem."

"Sorry, detective," Sean repeated. "I think you misunderstand. When I said that I couldn't do that, I meant it because… it isn't here." He smiled at the notion.

"What?" Giles asked nervously.

"It isn't here," he repeated.

A look of sudden realization came to Sara's face. Indeed, it came to her, Giles, Kennedy, and Rona. "It's a trap! They set us up!"

"Right you are." With that, more vampires came out of the three limousines. But they were small compared to what came out of the first limousine: a huge, yellow-and-purple-skinned demon, with bulging muscles and a large mace.

"This here is Krag. He was a prize-fighter in his dimension and does some… physical work… for a reasonable fee."

The Slayers started to get worried. Monica and Deirdre knew they were crack shots, but they were greatly outnumbered. Adrienne, Penny, Ling, and Michelle became anxious as they looked to the Kennedy for answers. Their blood chilled even more when they saw the look in her eyes. She had none.

"Ms. Vitelli thought it was time to put you out of her way. Personally, I'm surprised she put it off for so long. Guess she figured you weren't _that_ important. However, she knows do-gooders like you always seem to come in at just the right moment to screw things up. Hence going to all this trouble." Sean gave one last smile before he made his way back to his limo. "Kill them."

Panic threatened to ensue, but the Slayers' training kicked in. Monica and Deirdre fired off their crossbows into two of the vampires, turning them into dust. As they reloaded, four of the vamps started to make their way up both sides of the steps toward the walkway.

Below, Sara fired off a few rounds into an approaching Krag. Unfortunately, it didn't even slow him down and Sara saw the futility in her approach. Dropping her gun, Sara backed up as Krag advanced on her. Lifting up his mace he swung at her head. Sara rolled to the ground and came back up, the Witchblade's sword unsheathed.

Sara engaged her blade against his mace. The guy was big… and strong. The way he parried and blocked demonstrated that to her. But Sara noted that while he had a lot of power behind his blows, he was all brute strength. Sure he had some technique, but it was all quite limited. Sara decided to use it to her advantage.

She went through some of the fencing and sword moves Giles had taught her. She moved around as elegantly as she could, maneuvering to outdo her opponent. It was all going well… until he punched her in the face. It the third time in two days that she had been hit in the face and she was pissed. The blow was so powerful she thought for a second she would black out. Getting up, she regained her bearings and went on the offensive. Clashing and striking her sword finally hit flesh. The demon roared in pain, the sword run through the right side of his abdomen. Sara pulled the blade out and ducked his mace again, this time piercing him on the left side. Blood dripping from her weapon, Sara realized she was just a big giant bull… and she was the matador.

The demon rushed again, only to have Sara dodge and strike his leg. She engaged her blade again and when she got in close, she hit him in the face. But he retaliated with a shoulder butt, knocking Sara to the ground. Sara backed away as he approached, hoping for enough time to get up and finish the fight. Quickly standing up, she stood ready at the approaching beast. Once more he sung at her head. Sara ducked the swing and sunk her blade into his solar plexus. The demon howled in pain and faltered. Withdrawing the blade she swung it downward on his right arm, severing it at the forearm. He cried out once again in pain and fell to his knees. In her rage, Sara drew her sword back and swiped at his head, decapitating him.

Bending over to rest before helping the others, Sara tried to catch her breath. There was still more fighting left to handle. Giles, Kennedy, and Rona came up to her to see how she was. It was then they heard a click. Sea stood in front of them, with Sara's gun in his hand. They looked all looked at him with fear in their eyes. Sara knew she could block the bullets, but the rest of them couldn't. Just as he was about to fire, an arrow pierced his right shoulder, forcing him to drop the gun.

Looking up Sean saw Monica, bloodied and bruised, reloading. Looking back at the group in front of him, he picked up the gun with his left hand and proceeded to fire. Giles and Rona hid behind the corner of the building, while Kennedy jumped behind the steps to the walkway. Sara stood her ground. Sean fired at her, but she deflected the bullets. She slowly walked toward him, the bullets bouncing off of her gauntlet. Sean tried to fire again, but there was only a click. It was empty. A few of the surviving vampires had started up the limousines and Sean jumped in. Backing up, they narrowly missed Sara and sped off into the darkness. Kennedy emerged from behind the steps to join the cop.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, is everyone alright?" Sara asked.

A bunch of 'yeahs' from both the walkway and the ground greeted her ears.

"Giles told me that thing blocked bullets, but to see it was something else," Kennedy said, impressed at the blade's abilities.

"Help!" Sara and Kennedy were startled by the cry and ran over to Rona, who was kneeling over a motionless Giles. Sara looked at the figure on the ground in horror. Blood was soaking his shirt.

"We need to get to a hospital," Rona said, on the brink of tears.


	4. Chapter IV

**To all my readers: **Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my stories. You guys have been an inspiration. Your reviews, both encouraging and critical, help make future chapters better. And just in case you were wondering, I have a good idea where this story is going. Please read and enjoy.

* * *

_**11:19 pm, Thursday – NYU Downtown Hospital**_

"We need help!" Sara yelled after opening the door to the van.

The EMTs near the emergency room entrance rushed to the van with a gurney, ready to take the unconscious figure. Sara, Kennedy, and Rona went alongside him as the van sped toward home base. They weren't in the mood to be asked how a middle-aged man ended up shot around a gaggle of women. Rushing through the emergency room, one of the EMTs yelled for a doctor.

"What's he got?" she asked.

"GSW to the chest," he replied. "His friends just brought him in. Pulse is low and we haven't done a BP check yet."

"Get him in ER number four. Snatch Dr. Kensington along the way and tell him I'll be there."

Sara, Rona, and Kennedy walked alongside the gurney toward the emergency room. One of the EMTs called out to another doctor in the hallway going over a chart.

"Dr. Kensington! Dr. Prakesh says she'll be along soon. She's putting him in ER number 4."

Closing his chart he said, "I'll get scrubbed up."

The three women followed the gurney to the ER doors where the doctor stopped them. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait here."

Dr. Prakesh soon came up and saw their anxious faces. Trying to quickly comfort them before going to her task she said, "We'll do the best we can to save your friend." And with that, she entered into the ER.

Rona held her hands over her mouth in anxiety as Kennedy looked on in worry, breathing heavily. Sara looked through the window; she put her hands on them as if by sheer will she could phase through it. Seeing the red streaks on the window from her bloodstained hands, she looked down in shock and quickly went over to the sink and scrubbed the blood off vigorously. Seeing how fast and how hard she was scrubbing, Kennedy went over to her and put her hand on her shoulder.

"He'll pull through, Sara. I know he will. He's strong."

Sara looked at Kennedy with pain in her eyes. The words from the young Slayer were comforting, if only a little.

_**  
11:47 pm, Thursday- Vitelli Residence**_

Sean stepped though the double-door entrance of the house. He had a very unpleasant task set before him: to tell Amy that the trap against Sara and the Slayers was an unmitigated failure. He warily approached the doors to her office room. One of the guards let him in, where he saw Amy sitting in a chair listen to music, opera from what he could tell, blaring from her stereo. Hesitantly, he spoke up.

"Ms. Vitelli…"

"Oh, I like this part," she interrupted. Sean stood there waiting. After the moment passed, Amy spoke again.

"You know, one thing I _will_ miss about old Genovese… his love of opera. I wasn't into it when we met, but after seeing Verdi's _Il Travatore_ I was hooked."

"Ms. Vitelli…"

Turning down the stereo with her remote she interrupted him again. "The trap failed," she said, preempting Sean.

"Yes," he affirmed ashamedly.

"And Krag?"

"Dead."

"Well, it seems Markov's band of thugs wasn't as good as he claimed," Amy said calmly. "The bright side is that we don't have to pay Krag the rest of his fee."

"What should we do?" he asked.

Turning her back to Sean, she said, "We're going to go through with tomorrow night as planned, and we're gong to keep a level head about things. Despite tonight's failure, Detective Pezzini won't have the whole precinct on us. She's got too many secrets to keep." Facing Sean again, she said, "Make sure everything is arranged for tomorrow night."

"Yes, Ms. Vitelli," he said before turning to go about his task.

"Oh, Sean," Amy said, interrupting his stride. "Two things: one, find Markov and have him brought here. I have the distinct feeling he lied to us about the quality of his mercenaries. And two…" Reaching out her hand, she telekinetically lifted Sean off of the ground and slammed him against a wall. Sean had expected something like this; he was just waiting for when.

"Next time you hire someone, you better make damn sure he's worth it," she said in a sinister voice. Her eyes were black with anger. "I don't need any surprises to ruin my plans. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Ms. Vitelli," Sean replied quickly. She then dropped him onto the floor.

"Good. You have your assignments. I suggest you go about them."

Again his only reply was, "Yes, Ms. Vitelli," before leaving her presence.

_**  
1:27 am, Friday- NYU Downtown Hospital**_

Willow had come rushing with Tina, who had stayed with her instead of going home, to the hospital when she got the news. Her mentor, friend, and father-figure, laying in an ER from a gunshot wound. She had to force herself not to listen to the part of her that desired bloody vengeance against Amy for this offense. Tina even told Kennedy that she saw Willow's eyes go black for a few moments. Kennedy knew that though Willow's Slayer spell filled her with such 'light-sided" power, deep inside she would always have to bear the burden of her affair with darkness.

"What's the news?" Willow inquired.

"We haven't heard anything yet," Kennedy replied. "They've been in there for a while now."

"Has anyone told Buffy?" Rona asked.

"Buffy!" Willow exclaimed. "I completely forgot to call her!" Taking out her cell phone, she said, "I'll be near the food court. I can't use it in the ER."

"I'll come too," said Rona. "I need something to drink. I just wish they had something stronger than soda." She looked at Sara, Kennedy and Tina and asked, "You guys coming?"

"Nah," said Kennedy. "I'll just stay here, see if the doctor tells us anything."

"Me too," Sara agreed.

"I'm staying with them," Tina replied. "Where's the restroom?"

Rona pointed to the door and then left with Willow toward the food court, leaving Sara and Kennedy standing by the room. A few minutes later, Dr. Prakesh came out of the ER and went up to the two women. They awaited her news anxiously.

"So what's the verdict, doc?" Kennedy asked.

"Your friend is still unconscious," she replied. "We were able to extract the bullet from the left side of his chest. It nicked a rib and punctured the left lung. Luckily, the puncture was quite small, toward the top edge of it. No other major organs were hit, but he lost a lot of blood. He's in critical condition, but hopefully he'll pull through. We're just glad you got him here when you did."

It wasn't the answer either of them was expecting, but it was still better than nothing. "Anything else?" Kennedy asked.

"There is one other thing," the doctor replied. "The mugger you said you were running away from didn't hit him directly."

"What do you mean?" Kennedy inquired.

"The bullet must have ricocheted off of something," she replied. "Most of the time bullets break up, but once in a while they stay intact. From the looks of things, it most likely bounced off metal."

Sara's face went white. Kennedy immediately looked at her, knowing what she was thinking.

"Doctor, could you excuse us? My friend isn't taking all of this very well," Kennedy said quickly.

"Of course."

Seeing the doctor walk away, Kennedy quickly went over to Sara and said sincerely, "Sara, it wasn't your fault."

"I did this. I did this. It's my fault. I did this," she continuously repeated in a daze of words and emotions.

"No!" Kennedy exclaimed. Grabbing the woman's shoulders, she said, "Sara, listen to me: you didn't do this. You're not to blame."

"I did it. I put Giles in there… all because of this damn thing on my wrist. People get hurt because of me. People die. And now Giles is going to… all because of me." She lowered her head in sorrow and grief.

"Giles is not going to die, Sara! I told you he's strong," Kennedy reiterated. "Besides, the one to blame is Amy. It was her lackey that did it and she's going to pay for it."

Sara raised her head and looked into Kennedy's eyes, saying in a menacing tone, "Yeah, she is." She then quickly walked away toward the exit of the hospital, with Kennedy trailing behind.

"Wait! Sara, what are you doing?"

"What I should have done a long time ago," she replied angrily.

"And what's that?" Kennedy asked.

"I'm going after Amy. I'm finishing this once and for all."

"Woah, bad idea!" She stepped in front of the detective and stopped her saying, "Pez, we can't just go after her like this. It's too dangerous."

"And we were so safe beforehand, right?" Sara said sarcastically.

"This is stupid and you know it. You can't do this."

"Watch me."

"Giles is my friend, too. But we'll get to the bottom of this and make Amy pay for it. I know we will."

"By what, huh?" Sara asked. "By having planning sessions and meetings and raids on some of her vampire lackeys? No, I'm going to find her and put my sword through her chest." She tried to walk past Kennedy, but the young Slayer moved in her path, resolving to make another attempt at reasoning with the enraged detective. Looking into her eyes, Kennedy continued.

"Would Giles want you doing this? Would Giles want you going out, possibly getting yourself killed to get revenge? I know he wouldn't, and you do too. So, why don't we just calm down and try to be there for him, okay?"

Relaxing for a moment and letting out a deep breath, Sara said, "Yeah… okay."

"Good. Now let's just…"

Kennedy's words were cut off by a metal-gloved punch to the jaw that spun her around. She was then put in a sleeper hold and struggled to break free.

"Sorry I got to do this to you, kid."

Kennedy quickly succumbed to the maneuver and passed out. Sara dragged her over to a chair nearby and sat her down. Walking away, it was then that Tina came out of the restroom. Seeing Kennedy passed out in the chair and Sara stomping away, she ran after the cop.

"Sara, where are you going?"

"To take care of Amy," she replied without stopping.

"Wait, you can't just…"

Sara turned around quickly, extending the Witchblade's sword and holding the end to Tina's throat. "Don't make me kill you, Tina."

Tina stood still, mindful of the blade at her throat and scared of what could happen if she moved. Sara looked at the fear in the girl's eyes and retracted the blade. She quickly turned and left the hospital. Soon, Willow and Rona came back, only to find Tina tossing a cup of water at Kennedy's face.

"Wha... who...?" the passed out Slayer said.

"Tina!" Willow exclaimed.

"She was passed out," the girl started to explain.

"How?" Willow asked.

"Sara," Kennedy replied. "She knocked me out after she told me she was going after Amy."

"What!" Willow exclaimed.

"She said she's planning on finishing this."

"Okay, this is bad. This is _really_ bad," Rona said. "What does she think she's doing?"

Willow knew fully well what Sara was planning. Even she herself had thought about it in detail, and summed it all up in one word.

"Revenge."


	5. Chapter V

**To all my readers and reviewers:** Especially Arekanderu, Little Drusilla, General Mac, and Majin Gojira. Your reviews and advice have made these stories even better. Hopefully you guys will still be reading by the end.__

**1:52 am, Friday - NYU Downtown Hospital**

Nearly fifteen minutes had passed since Sara left the hospital. The four women had been trying to reach her on her cell phone, but she wasn't answering. Kennedy told them what Dr. Prakesh had said and how Sara reacted to it. Willow felt a pang of sadness at how Sara took the blame for something that wasn't her fault. They all feared, particularly Willow, what Sara would try to do in her undeserved guilt-trip and unnecessary vengeance quest. She of all people knew that when power and revenge mixed, the results could be disastrous. She had no clue how far the cop was willing to go to get Amy and wanted to stop her before they all found out.

"What about Buffy?" Rona asked.

"She's flying in on one of The Immortal's private jets," Willow replied. "She should be here in the afternoon hours."

"Are you going to tell her about Sara's plan?" Kennedy asked.

"Maybe. I'm hoping I can find Sara before she gets to it. If Buffy finds out…"

"She'll act like Buffy and go ballistic," Rona preempted. "And we'll have yet another wonderful episode of 'Superhero Deathmatch'.

"That's what I'm hoping to avoid," Willow said. Closing her eyes she concentrated on finding the detective. She and the top brass at Slayer headquarters decided to have Willow place a psychic link between everyone there, for the purpose of finding each other in case an emergency happened. It also let her know who was alive and who wasn't. She was careful to make sure the link didn't allow anyone to read their minds, since she wanted to respect everyone's privacy. Nevertheless, the idea had proved invaluable.

She stretched out with her power, trying to locate the woman in hopes of convincing her of the recklessness of her plan. She was close… very close. She could tell Sara was on the subway. She was about to pinpoint her location until…

"Ah!" Willow yelled out, grabbing her head. The pain wasn't serious, but it was enough.

"What is it?" Kennedy asked worryingly.

"Nothing, just a backlash of power," Willow replied, holding her head. "She severed the link just as I was about to locate her."

"I didn't know she could do that," Tina remarked.

"More than likely it wasn't just her," Kennedy said. "The Witchblade must have some tricks up its sleeve."

"Seems like they don't want to be found," Rona observed. "She probably went back to base to get her bike. Marie and Diane can catch her there."

"She doesn't need her bike," Willow said. "She's got a car in a parking garage near her apartment."

"What about heading to her apartment?" Tina asked. "Maybe she hasn't gotten there yet."

"Maybe," Kennedy replied, unsure. "Can you two swing by there?" she asked.

"Yeah," Rona replied.

"Um, I'm not so sure about that," Tina said sheepishly.

"Why not?" Willow asked.

"After Kennedy got knocked out I tried to stop her. She put a sword to my throat."

"What?!" Willow exclaimed. "Okay, we _really_ have to find her."

"_I'll_ check the apartment and Tina can stay in the van. And if Sara's not there, we'll just catch her at work in the morning," Rona reasoned. "She's got to show up."

"It's worth a try," Willow said. Taking out her cell phone again, she begrudgingly decided to call Buffy and tell her of their newest problem. "I'll call Buffy," she said, clearly unhappy with the idea.

"I don't envy you," Rona remarked as she and Tina started to leave.

"Thanks," Willow said sarcastically.

_**  
2:20 am, Friday- Sara Pezzini's Apartment**_

Sara entered her apartment. Ten times her cell phone had gone off and still she refused to answer it. She went to the closet and, reaching her hand toward the far right side, grabbed a case of bullets. Walking to her bedroom she reached under her bed and took out her shotgun and a box of shells. She also grabbed a couple of stakes and put them all in a gym bag. She went to her dresser and put some clothes in. Moving on the bathroom to grab a few toiletries, she stopped to look in the mirror. She started to wonder how everything had gotten to this point, but the image of Giles in the hospital bed pushed itself to the forefront of her mind. Anger building up inside of her she lashed out her bare fist toward the mirror and smashed it. She grabbed the items she wanted and put them in the gym bag. She knew the first place Willow and the others would think about looking for her was her apartment, and she planned on being at a motel when they showed up. She just had to worry about them showing up at the precinct. Zipping up the bag she grabbed her keys, locked the door, and left.

_**  
2:23 am, Friday - NYU Downtown Hospital**_

It had been five minutes after Willow called Buffy. Her ear was _still_ ringing. The blond Slayer had gone into a tirade about Sara's plan and made her extreme displeasure known to the witch. To say that Buffy was yelling was an understatement. Willow walked back toward the ER wing and approached the group.

"How'd it go?" Kennedy asked, knowing the answer.

"I think Buffy might have permanently damaged my hearing," she joked dryly.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah, it was," Willow replied. "She'll be coming in through MacArthur in about twelve hours and then take a cab here. In the meantime, we should try and rest until the morning. Hopefully Rona will find Sara."

Kennedy saw Willow's somber face and asked the question that was on her mind. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good," she replied unconvincingly.

"Willow, it's me," Kennedy said. "How are you _really_ feeling?"

"Terrible. One of the people I look up to is lying in hospital bed, fighting for his life. Now Sara's planning on pulling a 'Rosenberg' and exacting bloody revenge on everyone involved, which may end up with her doing something she'll regret and/or getting herself killed." It was then Willow's emotions showed through.

"I'm tired, Kennedy," she said. "I'm tired of this whole battle. I've been here for a year trying to do anything to stop Amy and we're no closer than we were a year ago. Everyday I just think about tossing in the towel and quitting. But every time I want to just give up and move on, I can't, because I know what's out there. This whole war against the darkness is just so hard and costs so much. Now it might cost two people I care about. I can't lose anymore people. I just can't…" The redhead started to weep, holding her hands in front of her face.

Taking a hold of her and cradling her head Kennedy said, "It's okay. I know it's tough, but we'll pull through. Buffy's coming back, Giles is going to get better, and we'll take down Amy and make her eat that glorified accessory."

Willow started to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Look at me," she said, berating herself. "Giles is in the hospital and I'm going on about my problems."

"No, it's fine, Willow. We've all been dealing with a lot… you, Buffy, Giles, and Sara in particular. You guys have been doing this stuff for years, and you keep going. Frankly, I'm surprised you've kept it together for so long. Especially after what you guys've been through." She saw Willow smile at that.

"Look," she continued. "We'll find Sara, talk some sense into her, and figure out our next move. Okay? It's gonna get better."

"Okay," she replied, clearing the remaining tears from her eyes and letting out a large sigh she didn't even know she held in.

"Besides," Kennedy said. "I don't want her to die before she teaches me that sleeper move she did." She rubbed her neck where said move was applied. "It was _really_ good."

**_  
3:00 am, Friday - Brooklyn Estates Motel_**

Sara arrived at the motel and paid for her room. She took out her pump-action shotgun and attached the custom-made stake bayonet. She planned on going to work in a few hours and go about her day like nothing happened. A visit to the no-good rat of an informant was also on her agenda. True, she didn't have any proof that he was really in cahoots with Amy, but as a cop she knew people and had an insight into human nature that few did. One way or another she was going to end this game... even if it cost her life.


	6. Chapter VI

**To my readers:** Sorry about the lack of posting . I have been extremely busy as of late. But I am still planning on continuing my stories. Also, the question was raised of why I chose to advance the second story a year. The reason is I wanted to do a sort of 'Star Wars' type of format, laying down the primary stories and filling some parts in-between with brief one-chapter interludes. To me, this makes for a more interesting (and easier-telling) story, since I don't have to fill my primary stories with development that would better work in a separate related tale. And with all of that rigmarole, on to the story.  
_**

* * *

**_

_**2:44 am, Friday - NYU Downtown Hospital**_

"Any luck yet?"

"No, she still isn't answering her phone. And I've dialed twenty times already," Willow replied.

"So what do we do now?" Kennedy asked.

"I'm going to try and reach her telepathically again."

"Are you sure you can?"

"Yeah, it just caught me by surprise last time, like a rubber band snapping. I wasn't expecting the Witchblade to do anything. This time I'm ready."

Willow gathered her strength and stretched out, her mind like tendrils reaching out for its prey. She knew what she was searching for; it was just a matter of whether or not the target was willing to listen to reason. She had a feeling deep down inside that the answer was 'no'.

She kept reaching out, further and further away. The Witchblade and its wearer gave off a unique mystical signature. It was only detected by those skillful and powerful enough to do so. Luckily, Willow was both.

She finally stumbled on to something. She followed it. At first the feeling was faint, like something that was left behind. But as she followed it, it became stronger and stronger, to the point that where there was no doubt in her mind that she had found her target. She was going to try and reach their wayward comrade. She was going to stop her newfound ally from making a potentially fatal mistake.

* * *

Sara brushed her teeth. She had a big day planned ahead. She would find out where the _real_ drop-off of Amy's merchandise was and kill her. That was all there was to it… in her mind. Somewhere, in the deep dark recesses of her thoughts, the reasonable side of her knew that her plans were a possible futile venture. But reason had been forsaken for the night and emotion won out. She would find Amy and destroy her. And if that meant dying in the process, then she had no problem with that. 

She swished water around in her mouth and then expelled the spoiled liquid. Wiping her lips, she looked at the motel mirror, her face hardened, but worried at the same time. Just as she was about to leave the bathroom for bed, she grabbed her head and yelled out in pain. Someone was trying to enter her mind, someone powerful. And she knew only one person who would care to do it.

"Willow…"

"_Sara!"_

_"Get out, Willow!"_

"_No. You have to stop this. This is stupid and you know it."_

_"Maybe, maybe not. Either way I'm cleaning up this mess._ Ahh!" Sara grabbed her head again in pain. Willow was trying to reestablish the mental link between them and the Witchblade was resisting. But it was Sara's body taking the toll of the battle. Her blood pressure was pushing higher and higher, her head throbbing and pounding. A few seconds later, the pain stopped.

* * *

Willow had ceased her attempt to reestablish a mental connection with Sara and looked worried. She knew the Witchblade would resist, but she didn't know to what lengths it would go to fight her attempts. 

"What happened?" Kennedy asked.

"I found her. I couldn't tell where she was, but it felt like a motel," she replied.

"Do you know how many of those are in New York?" Kennedy asked rhetorically. "It'd be almost impossible to find her in time. Could you connect with her?"

"Yes… and no."

"Huh?"

"The Witchblade was resisting… and Sara's body was taking the toll. If I tried any longer, she might have had an aneurysm or something."

"Great, just great! This just keeps getting better and better. What else can we do?"

"Wait," Willow replied. "Buffy's plane arrives in a couple of hours. Hopefully, we can figure out a plan before Sara sees hers through."

"And if we don't?" Kennedy asked.

Willow just looked at her, uncertainty in her eyes.**_

* * *

_**

Sara's head throbbed with pain. She was breathing heavily and starting to sweat. The Witchblade had put up a fight that Willow didn't want to be in. And it only did that because Sara desired to keep her mind from the mental link; she just didn't know it would take so much pain to do so. It was still both slave and master and Sara understood that. She knew that Willow's attempt was only to be the first of many to stop her from carrying out her plan; she could put an end to her and the Slayers' efforts if she just gave up and went home. She also knew that she could put an end to Amy and her cohorts if she succeeded. _I could stop all of this and we could just get back to our lives again,_ she thought to herself. It was a pretty decent reason; it just wasn't hers. It wasn't the _real _reason. She was lying to herself. Her plan wasn't a matter of expediency; it was a matter of emotion. Amy had dared to attack and injure someone she cared very much about. This wasn't business; this was personal.

She got up from the floor and fished out some aspirin from her bag. Taking some, she slipped into bed. She looked at the bracelet, the thing that had been more of a curse than a blessing in her life. _Please,_ she thought, _of all the nights I don't want you to wake me up in the middle of, let this be one of them_. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep.

**_  
8:50 am CET (2:50 am EST), Friday – Rome, Italy_**

The plane had just taken off a few minutes earlier and Buffy was nervous. She was hoping she'd be in New York City a week later and in a better mind when she delved back into work. Sadly, she not only found out that was not going to be the case, but that things had just gone from manageable to bad in the span of a day. She had been reluctant to leave them all, but after she heard of their successes she realized Kennedy and the others were fully capable of running the day-to-day operations. But no one had seen what was coming, not even Buffy herself. Now Giles was fighting for his life in a hospital.

And then there was Sara. While Giles would require their care, she would require their attention. Sara was the one planning payback for the trap. Of all the people she was most reluctant to see was the Witchblade's current bearer. It wasn't the fact that she didn't respect her; quite the contrary, she had seen how much of an asset she was to the group. It was just that they always felt slightly agitated around each other. Giles, researcher that he was, had gotten around to calling it the 'GSP Effect', using their last names to formalize what they felt. It was a custom within the scientific community to name a new disease, disorder, or discovery after its primary participants (and researchers) and this was no exception, since there was never any documented case of an encounter between a Bladewielder and a Slayer.

Buffy squirmed in her seat and let out a loud sigh. Though she had the plane cabin all to herself, she still felt closed in, constricted. She had the feeling that darker times were ahead, truly darker times. And knew that those times would either strengthen their resolve… or crush them all.


	7. Chapter VII

**To my readers:** Once again, thanks for all who read and reviewed. Hopefully you guys will like where my story is going. Read and enjoy.

* * *

**_7:58 am, Friday – 11th Precinct_**

"Morning, Pez," Danny said, greeting a quickly-moving Sara. "You're in an awfully big hurry."

_Damn, he noticed._ "Hey, Danny," she replied as she rummaged through some of her desk drawers. "Yeah, I just want to get my day started and hit some of the leads off of that office murder." _Liar_.

"Well, I'm ready to head out," he replied. "Just went over that info last night and, personally, I'd like to find out why an office supplier would warrant a bullet to the head."

"Then let's get going. Daylight's burning," she said before grabbing the car keys from her desk and heading out.

"Oooookay…" Danny slowly replied, sensing there was something wrong in the air with his partner.

Sara stormed toward the front entrance of the precinct clothed in gray business casual slacks and jacket, her violet blouse underneath complemented by the automatic pistol in its holster. She was a woman on a mission. She knew that Danny was going to be tagging along during the day, but hoped she could get away from him long enough to question the informant that gave them the location info on last night's botched raid. On the way to her car with Danny trailing behind, she passed Jake, who was carrying a report from Forensics on a possible murder covered up as an overdose.

"Morning, Pez," he said.

"Hey, Jake. Can't talk, got to go."

Seeing Danny trail behind her, Jake stopped him and asked, "What's up with Sara?"

"I don't know," he replied. "She's been like that since she got here. I'll try and ask, but you know how she gets."

"Yeah, I know."

Walking outside, Danny got into the the passenger side of the car, Sara saying not a word as she started it up. He knew something was bothering her. That was obvious to anyone. But rarely had he ever seen her this tense and agitated. It had been fifteen minutes on the road when he finally decided to break the silence that was beginning his workday.

"Pez, what's going on?"

"What?" she asked in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, considering the fact that you've been all 'Terminator' this morning, I think that calls for a 'what's-going-on' question."

"Nothing, I just want to hit the ground running, that's all."

"From the looks of it, you're rushing to get a lot done today. And it doesn't look like you got much sleep last night either."

"I'm fine," she argued. "Really."

Danny just looked at Sara, who was starting to squirm a bit under his gaze. "Yeah, whatever," he retorted.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just like I said, Sara," he replied. "Whatever."

"If you got something to say, then say it," she demanded.

"It doesn't matter. You won't listen to it anyway; you're too damn hard-headed."

"Is that a fact?"

"Yeah, it is!" he yelled. "I'm your friend, Sara! Do you even understand that concept? Your _friend_. And friends are supposed to help each other out. Me and Jake care about you, even though you push us away all the time. We try and help, we try to be there for you, but you just tell us there's no problem and walk off."

"You can't help me, Danny, and neither can Jake."

"Oh, here we go again," he said, exasperated at her pessimism. "The Sara Pezzini 'I-have-to-do-this-on-my-own' attitude. I told you before, Sara: you _can't _do it alone. You need people to help you. And even then you won't always win. But you keep on trying to handle every problem on your own. And then punish yourself for every failure, for every flaw, like you deserve it. Me? I try and do the best I can to get through the day so I can see my family, but you… you act like the world hinges on your every decision."

_It just might_, she thought. "We're cops, Danny," she replied. "Life and death depend on our actions. And real people pay the consequences." Danny noticed the sadness in her voice.

"They do... and they do," he said. "But that's why we don't do it alone. It's the brotherhood of the badge, Sara. Remember that? That means we look out for each other, and back each other up. And not just on the street. But I can't do that if I don't have a clue what my partner's going through."

"But what if involving people ends up hurting them?" she asked.

"Shouldn't it be up to them whether or not to take that chance?" he challenged.

Sara wanted to tell him. Deep inside, she wanted to tell one of her oldest and few friends in the world what she was going through. She wanted to tell him about the Witchblade, about Amy, and about everything that had brought her to this point in her life. But upon seeing that they had arrived at their destination, she quickly stuffed those feelings deep down and said, "Look, here we are."

Looking outside his window and back at Sara, Danny replied grimly, "Yeah, I guess so."

**_  
8:56am, Friday - 11th Precinct_**

Michelle had gone up to the Sara's precinct, as was the plan when she woke up in the morning. She was taking a summer class at NYU but luckily didn't have it on Fridays, which meant she had a little time to during the day to devote to Slayer stuff before work. She walked into the lobby of the building and made her way down the hall after the lobby cop directed her. She hoped that she could catch Sara, or at least have someone point her in the right direction.

"Excuse me," she said to the busy front desk clerk.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Is Sara Pezzini here? I was hoping to talk to her."

Jake was passing by carrying a folder with statements and such from his case when he heard a woman toss out Sara's name. Curiosity led him to stop and question her.

"Excuse me," he said, "are you Willow?"

"No," she replied. "Michelle."

"Oh. I'm one of Sara's partners and she got a few calls this morning from someone named Willow. I thought you were her. Anyway, Sara's not here. She left about an hour ago."

"Do you know where she is?" Michelle asked. "I really need to talk to her and she's not picking up her cell."

"Usually when she does that she doesn't _want_ to talk."

"Look, I'm a friend; I just need to talk to her. It's pretty serious."

Jake looked into her pleading eyes and sighed. "There was call about an incident over at this address," he said, taking out a slip of paper and writing the address down. "She'll probably be over there. Look, if she's pissed about something, you're in for a fight."

"I know," Michelle said, taking the slip of paper and walking away. "Thanks."

Jake just looked at the clerk and furrowed his brow.

_**  
9:08 am, Friday - Nolan's Soup & Sandwich, across from the 11th Precinct**_

"Kennedy, what do we do if Sara shows?" Rona asked.

"I haven't thought that far ahead, "Kennedy replied. "Confronting her might be enough."

"And you really think that?"

"No, especially with all of those cops there. Let's just play it out and see what happens. She may not even show up until later, and we're only going to be here a few hours."

As soon as Kennedy spoke, they both observed Michelle running out of the police station. "You think we should follow?" Rona asked.

"No, I want to make sure we catch Sara if she comes by. Michelle can handle herself." And so, the two Slayers waited, hoping they could stop the detective from going on her own personal suicide mission.

_**  
9:45 am, Friday - Vanguard Graphics, Inc.**_

What had followed the office investigation was something completely, unabashedly... similar. Sara and Danny had been called over there to investigate the homicide of the cleaning man to the small office, who had been found with a gunshot wound to the chest. Upon sifting through the man's belongings Sara became livid, but hid it well; in his bag were an ESL book and a set of TOEFL practice exams. She had some doubts earlier about what she was planning on doing, but upon seeing this man she became more resolved. Another innocent had been killed, one who had just been trying to better his lot in life. Now he would never be able to see his dreams come to fruition, all because someone decided his life was unimportant. Amy did the same to others, and Sara felt it was time she paid for her crimes.

It was only moments later that Michelle had come running up to the building. She saw onlookers and police surrounding the cordoned-off area. Approaching the barricade she tried to walk past. She knew one of the cops would stop her. But if she tossed out Sara's name, she thought, they would possibly let her pass and see the woman. As expected, the officer in front of her thrust out his hands out and blocked her.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"I need to go up there. I know someone in there."

"Lady, unless it's the stiff or one of the cops you're staying right here."

"It _is_ one of the cops," she protested.

"Who?" he asked,

"Detective Sara Pezzini," she replied. "I really need to talk to her." Seeing Sara and another guy who she presumed to be her partner walking out of the staircase door just thirty feet from her, she yelled out her name.

"Sara! Sara!"

Upon hearing her name being called, Sara turned her head and walked toward the entrance of the building, with Danny in tow. Looking from top of the entrance steps, she saw Michelle near one of the cops at the barricade. She was escorted past the barricade a little with the cop at her side.

"Sara, I need to talk to you," she said.

"Is Giles alright?" she asked, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"Yeah, for now. But I just want to talk with you."

"Get her out of here," Sara told the cop before she turned and started to walk away.

"What!" Michelle exclaimed, the cop tugging at her. "Sara, please talk to me; talk to _us_." The cop had stopped her when Sara stopped.

"Am I alone here?" Sara asked the cop pointedly. "Get rid of her!" Danny was taken aback by her tone. She only got that way when she was really agitated, which turned out to be on more than a few occasions.

"Sara!" the Slayer exclaimed.

"Lady, you heard her," the cop said as he pulled her away and escorted to her to the barricade. "Beat it."

Michelle knew that she could easily take the officer if she wanted to. And Sara knew it too. But she was surrounded by them and knew that while she could overpower them, it would only be a matter of time until one pulled a gun and thus end things in a very undesirable way.

She felt betrayed. She had fought alongside Sara for nearly eleven months, ever since she was discovered as a Slayer. She thought somehow that it meant something, even with the whole GSP effect thing. Angry, she wanted to pound the woman's face repeatedly for her betrayal and her stubbornness, but knew that wasn't an option. Seeing the futility of things, she stormed away.

"What was that about?" Danny asked, curious about the encounter. "And who's Giles?"

"It's nothing, Danny," Sara replied.

"She sure didn't think it was."

"Can we just get back to work?"

"Fine," he said. "Be that way."

_**  
12:42 pm, Friday – NYU Downtown Hospital**_

Willow had been sleeping in the waiting room of the hospital when she woke up. She had been up until 5:00 that morning, hoping for some word on Sara. Alas, drowsiness had gotten the better of her. Fatigue, as well as her desire to be near Giles in case anything happened, kept her there in that waiting room. Kennedy had gone back home and had one of the girls bring by a change of clothes for her. Upon awaking she was able to convince a doctor, who had taken pity on her, to use the locker room facilities reserved for the doctors. Her hair still wet from the shower, she decided to make her way to the cafeteria, hoping that some food would help ease her worry.

_**  
1:43 pm, Friday – Applegrove Apartments**_

They exited the apartment complex; it was their destination after they had questioned the employees at Vanguard. The man had been living with his brother and his brother's wife when he came to the States. Sara and Danny questioned the brief-stricken couple as best they could. The two both worked nights and thought nothing of their relative spending time out after work. But they became worried after his absence went longer than expected. Much to the detectives' chagrin, it was a typical day at work for both of them. After questioning them, Sara and Danny decided they needed a little reprieve.

"Want to get a late lunch?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, I know a place down on 63rd: 'Dillon's Deli'," Sara replied.

"63rd? That's a little out of the way."

"I know, but it looked pretty good and I wanted to check it out."

"Okay, but it better be good," he quipped.

A half-hour later, they arrived at their destination, a small diner that looked like it had seen much better days. Danny looked at the establishment with doubt. He hoped that wherever they were going he would get a half-way decent corned-beef sandwich, and that outcome now seemed in question.

"Hey, Danny. Order me a turkey and Swiss on rye. I'll be inside in a few," Sara said.

"Where're you going?" he asked.

"Just going to see something I thought I might buy for my apartment," she replied. "Fifteen minutes, that's all."

Sara walked into the small electronics store, which neatly hid its other function: the proprietor was a dealer in valuable information. Willy the Snitch had told them he wasn't going to be in that business anymore, particularly after Amy rose to power. Though the Scoobies were doubtful of him sticking to his pledge, regardless they decided to scout out new informants. Sara, Giles, Buffy, and Willow had gone to him in the past eight months and had gotten some pretty good tips on what was the what in New York, particularly if it dealt with Amy. Now Sara was questioning if his services would ever be needed again.

"So how'd it feel selling us out?'" Sara asked impertinently.

"What?" the man said.

"Oh come on, Birdie. You didn't think I'd figure it out, did you?" Sara asked rhetorically.

"What are you talking about?"

"That raid last night? Turns out it was an ambush on me and my crew."

"You're kidding?" he asked. "Sara, I didn't know."

"Why don't I believe you?" She approached him like a lioness ready to pounce on her prey. "You know, I had a hard time trusting you, even after all the good info you gave. Call it 'cop instincts'."

"Sara, I'm telling you: I wasn't in on it, I swear," he said nervously.

"We'll see."

Sara extended the small blade from her gauntlet and held it to Birdie's throat. She then pushed him back against a column of shelves attached to a wall, the contents of which went crashing down. Beads of sweat came over the man.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"The way I see it, you sold us out," she replied. "How much did 'Dona' Vitelli pay you, huh? Five g's? Ten? You've got ten seconds to tell me, or we find out how many nasty things I can do with this." She held the blade close to his left eye.

"10…"

"I didn't do it!"

"9…"

"Please, I swear!"

"8…7…"

"Sara, I'm begging you!"

"6…5…"

"It wasn't me!"

"4…3…"

"Please!"

"2…1…"

"Alright!" he yelled. "Alright. Amy's boy came to me about four months ago and said that he knew I was the one supplying info on their operations. Offered me ten grand to butter you guys up with some decent info and then feed you some bogus stuff. I told him I didn't do that type of work. But then he made me another offer and I had to take it."

Sara stood straight up, taking the blade away from Birdie's throat. She looked at him, a blank stare on her face. "You know, had you held out those ten seconds, I would have bought that you had nothing to do with it."

"What? You mean..."

"I made a guess… and it seems I was right," she replied. "So what did he offer you then, huh?" she asked angrily. "Fifteen? Twenty?"

"Five."

"What?" she asked, flabbergasted that Birdie settled for less.

"He knew I had a criminal record," Birdie said. "And he told me that if I didn't help out, he'd tell everyone in the neighborhood about it. I've got a business barely staying afloat, a mark on my past to boot, and not a lot of skills. What was I supposed to do?"

"You weren't supposed to serve us up to Amy on a silver platter!" she yelled.

"Yeah, like you wouldn't have, huh?" he asked sarcastically. "Easy to say when you don't have a past. You wouldn't have even bothered with me knowing what I did."

"Yes, I would... because I _did_ know."

"What?"

"Did you actually think I wouldn't check up on who was passing us info, Mr. Dugan? I know who you are, and I know what happened. You were trying to get your feet wet in the theatre scene, and the party was supposed to involve people who could make that happen. You were twenty-three and she was eighteen. You both got drunk and ended up in bed. She reported it as a rape later on and you were brought up on charges. Only a couple years later did the truth come out and you were released from prison. An old family friend gave you this place and you slipped through the bureaucratic cracks. Otherwise, by law, the community would have to be informed of you being a sex offender. Unfortunately, the laws don't always catch up with court rulings."

Birdie stood there, shocked at what he heard.

"I didn't do anything because I gave you the benefit of the doubt," Sara said, "but it seems I shouldn't have even bothered."

"My back was against the wall..."

Sara forcefully pushed him back against the store wall again and said, "_Now_ your back's against the wall, and you're going to tell me when and where the drop-off point is."

"They'll kill me if I talk," he said.

"_I_ might if you don't. Besides, I know people who can help you disappear. And when you do, I better not ever catch you around here again or you'll see a side of me worse than this." Her eyes were fierce, piercing through and frightening him to his very core. "Now, you're going to tell me what I want to know… or we'll find out if you can sing soprano."

Birdie went wide-eyed.

_**  
2:33 pm, Friday - NYU Downtown Hospital**_

Willow had been in the hospital food court, dining on what could force herself to eat. It wasn't that the food was bad. Quite the contrary, it was quite tasty. But considering the fact that her former mentor and current colleague was still in critical condition, worry was filling her more than the hospital fare.

She kept thinking about how empty her stomach still felt as she worked her way back to Giles' room, only to see someone standing in there. Walking to the door she opened it, only to be greeted by a sight for her sore and weary eyes.

"Buffy…"

"Hey, Will," she replied somberly.

"How long have you been here?"

"Just a few minutes. What's the word on Giles?"

"He's still critical. The doctors say that it could go either way, considering how long it took us to get him here." Willow's voice cracked at the end. "I wanted to be here for him… and I've been trying to hold it together, especially since Sara left, and…" She started to lightly weep.

Buffy went over and hugged her best friend, saying, "I know, Willow, I know. You're doing great."

"Thanks," she said, wiping her eyes. "Well, we still have to solve this thing with Sara."

"Then let's get home and figure out a plan," she replied. She looked at Giles as he lay in his bed, unconscious with a respirator, IV, feeding tube, and a heart monitor attached to his body. She went over to him and paused, looking at him with a sad gaze. She leaned over, closed her eyes, and planted a kiss on his forehead. As Buffy straightened up, she put her hand on the kissed spot and then turned toward Willow.

"Time to go to work."

_**  
2:34 pm, Friday – Outside of Dillon's Deli**_

Danny had come out of the entrance of the deli with two foam packages and drinks, only to see Sara walking up to him.

"You find what you were looking for?" he asked, handing her one of the packages.

"More or less."


	8. Chapter VIII

**Doza:** As for Sara's likability, try and take into account that we're only getting a slice of what's going on. This has spanned over a few days so far and she's noticeably perturbed about what has happened (to say the least). Also take into account that I set up the story so that Giles was one of the few people in her life that knows about the Witchblade and hasn't tried to use it or her for their own selfish reasons. That makes him all the more endearing to her and it makes it all the more emotional if that relationship is put in jeopardy. Plus, I don't want her as a full-fledged Scooby. She functions more as an outside consultant. Truth is, the attitude of Sara is basically that she would like nothing more than to get back to her abnormal life, but is finding out more and more that it's increasingly unlikely to happen.

**RTds9**: I'm going to try and stay within the parameters of what I think would, could, or should happen. I don't want anyone to necessarily "show anyone up". However, what I _do_ want is to put these guys in a situation where the old methods won't cut it and new rules have to be applied, requiring adjustments for all involved.

**General Mac:** I'll always try and deliver.

As for where I'm going with this story I just hope my readers will stay with it. Some things you might like and some you might hate. Still, reviews are more than welcome.

**_

* * *

_****_2:58 p.m., Friday - Slayer Base HQ_**

"Buffy! You're back!" Kennedy exclaimed. She ran to give the returned Slayer a great big hug. The others that were present ran up to her.

"Yeah, I am. But no time for chitchat; we've got work to do. I want everything to go into finding Sara. Check the police station again; call her phone over and over if necessary. Leave a billion messages at her precinct if that's what it takes. Rona and Deirdre: stake out her place for awhile, see if she pops up. Me and Willow are going to run by the informant's place. Sara probably went by there to quiz the guy about last night's raid."

"Well, Michelle saw her earlier at some murder investigation," Kennedy said.

"And?" Buffy asked.

"She got hauled out by a cop on Sara's orders. She's pretty pissed about it."

"Figures. Well, check out Sara's favorite hangout spots and the diners around her precinct. Maybe something'll turn up."

"Um… her favorite hangout spots?" Monica asked. "Buffy, we don't have a clue where those are."

"What? She's been with us for a year," she replied in confusion.

"Exactly," Monica said. "Buffy, Sara's been with us for a year and we still don't know a lot about her. As a matter of fact, the one that knows the most about her is… Giles."

Buffy was dumbfounded. It had been a year since they had met and she was struck with the glaringly obvious: no one _really_ knew much about the cop. And she knew that lack of knowledge about her could prove the woman's undoing if they didn't get to her in time. "Then we'll have to work with what we have," Buffy responded. "Monica, Ling: you guys check by her gym. It's your choice to go by her police station, but be careful. We may need to get rough to stop her and I don't want that happening in front of a bunch of cops. Let's get moving everyone; the sooner we handle this, the better."

**_  
3:02 p.m., Friday - Home of Nicholas Sanderson, Marketing Manager for Vanguard Graphics_**

"Jake told me you're pretty popular over at the precinct today," Danny said as they rode up to their new destination. "Someone came looking for you, and the description he gave was surprisingly similar to the one that stopped by the Vanguard office." He looked at Sara's face for any reaction to the news. Not only did she not speak, she didn't even flinch. "Plus," he continued, "he told me you got nine calls from a woman named Willow."

Sara still said nothing.

"Well?" Danny asked.

"Well what?" Sara inquired back.

"You planning on handling your phone calls, or what?"

"Or what," she replied.

"Look, whoever 'Willow' is, she wants to talk to you badly, like that girl earlier."

"I know."

"So… you plan on calling her?" he asked, confused.

"Not really."

"You plan on giving me more than two-word responses on this?"

"Probably not," she replied.

"It might be an emergency," Danny said.

"No, at least not in the way you're thinking. Look, can we just move on to something else, please?" To Danny, it wasn't a suggestion.

"Fine," he retorted.

"Danny…" she pleaded, seeing he was clearly losing patience with her.

"No," he interrupted. "You said 'drop it', so we're dropping it. Let's just question this guy and get back to the station, alright?"

"Fine," she said back.

**_  
3:48 p.m., Friday - Nikto Electronics & Supply_**

Buffy and Willow had arrived near the store Stitch owned. They had some serious questions for the man and wanted some serious answers. If Sara was to go on a foolhardy mission, they wanted enough info to intercept and hopefully restrain her. And both knew that restraining her meant a possible physical confrontation.

"Buffy, what do we do if this guy sold us out?" Willow asked.

"Well, I plan to break his nose if he did," she replied. "And then we threaten more violence for information on Sara."

"Wow," Willow said, kind of disturbed at the nonchalant attitude she was taking with the issue. "How long did it take to plan _that_ out?"

"I'm making it up as I go," she answered.

"Oh… um, here we are," Willow said. She looked at the door and there placed in the middle was a 'Closed' sign. It was odd, considering the fact it wasn't even evening.

"It's closed," Buffy said. "Huh? What for?"

"Sara's been around here," Willow said. "It's faint, but I know she was here."

"And like her usual charming self," Buffy said sarcastically, "she no doubt sent the guy running. Typical."

"Weren't you going to do the same?" Willow asked.

"Well... yeah, but no doubt in a much better way."

"What now?"

"I have another idea," Buffy replied, "but you won't like it."

* * *

"Pez, Willow called…." Jake said as Sara and Danny walked toward their desks. They had said nary a word to each other on the way back from Mr. Sanderson's residence. 

"Save it, Jake," Danny interrupted. "She's not answering them."

"Oooookay…"

"Why is everybody so concerned about my phone calls?" Sara asked indignantly.

"When it's cutting in on detective work," Jake replied. "You know the cap's going to throw a fit if she keeps calling."

"Just tell her I'm not here and hang up."

"And if it's important?" Jake asked.

"Look, I said I'll handle it, alright?" Sara shot back. "For now, just make up something and… aaahhhh!" Sara grabbed her head in pain.

"Pez!" Jake yelled.

Sara dropped to the floor, holding onto her head and yelling out in pain. Squirming and writhing, she knew who it was as soon as she felt it. _Willow_.

_Sara, you need to stop… now._

"No!" Sara yelled out. "Ahhhh!"

_Please, for Giles' sake, don't do this._

Sara was too busy focusing on the pain to telepathically respond. Danny and Jake tried to steady her, but kept moving about on the floor. "Pez! Pez! What's wrong?" Danny asked.

"Somebody call 911 now!" Jake yelled out.

Captain Akins heard the commotion and came running out of his office. "What the hell's going on out here?" he yelled.

"It's Sara," a uniformed officer replied. "She just collapsed and started grabbing her head."

"Well, call 911!" he yelled.

"Someone's on it," the officer replied.

Every part of Sara's head was in pain, like it was in a vice's hold. Her blood racing she found it hard to breathe, as every breath made the pain in her head worse. She didn't know how much more she could take. Her vision blurred and the ceiling lights looked like they were dancing back and forth. The Witchblade was putting forth its best effort to stop Willow from reestablishing the link and thus knowing her location. It became so intense that blood started to run from Sara's nostrils, staining her blouse and pants. Then, all of a sudden, the pain started to go away.

* * *

"I can't do anymore, Buffy," Willow said, distressed at her efforts. "It might kill her." 

"It's okay. You did the best you could, Willow," Buffy reassured her. In truth, Buffy was hoping for a small modicum of success.

"But I did get something from her," Willow said. "I was able to read her mind and she didn't notice. I could only make out a little: '10 tonight' and 'tiles'. That's about it."

"Well, it's something to go on. Let's get back home."

* * *

Sara sat on the floor, dazed, bleeding, and shaking from the shock of it all. She was breathing heavily, like she hadn't taken a breath in years. Holding her head, she tried to regain her bearings. 

"Pez, you all right?" Danny asked. "Someone's calling 911 right now."

"No!" Sara exclaimed. "No, I'm fine. I just need to lie down."

"What you need is to get to a hospital," Jake protested.

"No!" she exclaimed again. "Just let me rest for a second." She tried to stand as Jake and Danny helped her up.

"This isn't up for discussion," Danny retorted.

"I'm fine!" she yelled in anger. While she was hoping to dissuade her colleagues, she was making their case stronger as her outburst made her dizzy again. She started to fall back a little until Jake and Danny caught her.

"Then you're doing a really good impression of someone who isn't," Jake replied.

"Just call off the ambulance, please," she pleaded. "I just need to rest a bit." Her eyes were begging Jake to listen to her.

"Hawkins, call off the ambulance," the captain said.

"What!" Danny shouted, stunned at what he was hearing.

"We can't make her go if she doesn't want to, Woo," he replied. "But she _is_ getting rest; a couple of days' worth. Just enough time to get a physical and convince me she's fit to work. Maybe a CAT scan too."

"Cap…" she protested.

"And _that_ is not up for discussion, Pezzini," he said sternly. "Get home. Have McCartey drive you."

"No…" she said quickly. "I'll drive home. I just need a couple of minutes."

"Fine," he said. Looking around at the officers whose attention she had Akins said, "Let's get back to work, people; city isn't paying us to play nurse."

As the group started to disperse, Danny just looked at Sara, clear disappointment in his eyes. Once again, Sara had decided to eschew help and try and handle a problem on her own. Staring at her, he just huffed and walked away.

Jake knew the air between the two detectives was thick. Though he hadn't known her as long as Danny had, he was just as frustrated sometimes at her attitude toward her life and them. If he hadn't been so damn loyal, he would've given up on helping her a long time ago.

"Pez, if you need me to drive…" he offered.

"Thanks, Jake," she said as she watched Danny walk away, "but I'm set."

"Fine." His tone was curt, telling Sara that he was just as disappointed in her as Danny was.

_Great, now I've managed to piss off both Jake and Danny_, she thought. _Thanks a lot, Willow_.


	9. Chapter IX

**Majin Gojira:** Nah, I wasn't scared off. I've just been busy (and trying to be careful with my story). However, I was able to do more thorough research thanks due to our dialogue. Even made a call into one of the head guys at Top Cow for info (though I didn't get the info I wanted, I _did_ get a pack of free comics sent to me). Plus, I've been making sure that where I want to go with this story is exactly what I want. I've also been planning out the third part in my trilogy, separate self-contained shorts, and a post-trilogy addition.

**To my readers:** Thanks for tuning in to this story. Like I said before, I'm planning some big additions to this thing. Hope you'll still be reading. Read, review, and enjoy.

**_Constructive criticisms always welcomed. Flames cheerfully ignored._**

* * *

**____****9:10 p.m., Friday - Slayer Base HQ**

"So we've got '10 tonight' and 'tiles'," Buffy said. "I know it's not much to go on, but let's do the best we can to figure it out."

That was nearly five hours ago. They had gone through a list of possible locations, but had no leads or clue as to what Sara's destination was. They went through directories for businesses that did tiling and other hardware jobs, but the only thing they found was more dead ends in their efforts.

"This is pointless!" Kennedy exclaimed in frustration, throwing down a stack of papers. "I mean, '10 tonight' and 'tiles'; how's that going to help us? We've got just under an hour before 10:00 hits."

"I know, I know, but we can't just give up," Buffy replied. Turning to Willow she asked, "Do you remember anything else when you read her mind, anything at all?"

Closing her eyes and concentrating, Willow tried to remember any detail she could from the day's earlier encounter with Sara's mind. She tried to pick up on anything that could have slipped past, even the most insignificant thing. Repeating in her mind what she heard, two words came out that was faint: 'red' and something with a hard 'c' or 'k' sound.

"Red," she repeated. "The only thing else I heard was 'red' and something with a hard 'c' or 'k'." Willow looked dejected, as it still wasn't much to go on.

"Red? 'K'-sound?" Buffy said aloud. "Red. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…"She started pacing around and shaking her head, as if caught in a trance.

"What is it, Buffy?" Willow asked.

Buffy just looked over at Rona on the computer and said, "Rona: run a search on the computer for the word 'red' on all of the news clippings related to Amy."

"Alright," she said before turning and entering in the criteria. "OK, we've got 'red tape' regarding some imported art, 'red delicious' about some apple orchard she purchased, 'Red Hook' property…"

"Hold on," Buffy interrupted, "click on that one."

Rona clicked on the small article and started reading aloud. "Owners of property along the Red Hook waterfront seeking a buyer finally found one in New Empire Textiles, a division of The Encog Company. The site and abandoned warehouse building will be renovated for the company's product line. Newly-crowned Encog CEO Amy Madison-Vitelli…"

"That's it!" Buffy exclaimed. "'Tiles' was actually part of 'Textiles'. Sara and I had a chat about that warehouse about some time before I left. She said it'd probably be a couple of months before police would have to bust the place for drugs or something. Anyway, it's Amy's warehouse and Sara's headed there. Let's go!"

"Getting to Red Hook, in a van, in midtown traffic no less, on a Friday night, in forty minutes? Buffy, we'll never make it," Adrienne complained.

"We won't if we stay here griping about it," she said pointedly. "Pack weapons and move out!"

"And what do we say if we do get there in time, huh? 'Hi, Amy. Look, we're going to retrieve a Bladewielder looking to rip you a new one. Could you please not justifiably shoot us while we trespass on your property to get her?'"

Buffy looked at her sharply.

"Right," Adrienne said, "packing weapons and moving out."

  
_** 9:46 p.m., Friday - New Empire Textiles Warehouse**_

It had been six hours since the police station incident. Sara had driven herself back to the motel to rest some more after settling down for thirty minutes on the couch in the lounge, the entire time being ignored by Danny and minimally acknowledged by Jake. She knew they were livid about her refusing hospital treatment. But she also knew that if she went there, either Jake or Danny would have driven her car to her apartment where no doubt Willow would have sent people to stake it out and intercept her. That would have been the smart thing to do. And one thing she knew was that Willow was smart.

Earlier, after stopping to get some pain relievers for what had to be the worst headache she'd ever felt, she journeyed back to the motel to run a double-check on her things. The modified shotgun, extra box of shells, and pistol with spare clip were set. The five stakes were still in place. She also had something special for Amy that she had tucked away in her car; something designed to give Sara an edge in her fight. She felt ready. Looking at the bottle of water she bought earlier for her pain pills, she brought out the Witchblade and unsheathed its sword. She had swiped at it quickly, cleanly separating its head from the body.

And now: now she was at the warehouse, in her car, a good distance away from the perimeter of the property. She would have to be quick, since no doubt Amy would sense her presence as she got closer and closer. The good thing was that it would take some time before she could pinpoint her exact location, giving her enough time to launch a surprise attack.

Through binoculars, she saw six guards along a cordoned-off section, which was to be an addition to the warehouse facility. There were four near the front entrance and two along the side. She knew there was more than likely two more on the other side. A fence topped off with barbed wire surrounded the grounds. Sara moved over to the western side of the grounds, carrying her shotgun. She saw the two guards standing by the fence near a crane and a bundle of girders. She dipped behind them, hoping for some way to get one before the other had a chance to alert his buddies. Moving closer behind the crane out of the view of the guards, she decided to make her move. She picked up a rock and threw it over the fence. The two guards turned quickly toward the noise, poised and ready to render any intruder a faint memory. Moving as fast as she could, Sara ran up to them. They turned around at the sound of footsteps hitting dirt and gravel only to see a shotgun flying toward their faces. They dropped their guns in shock and Sara quickly pulled out her two pistols and pointed them at both of the guards. They had radio transceivers on their person and Sara was going to use them to make her presence unknown until the last minute.

"Richie, Terry: how's everything on your guys' end?" a voice called out from one of the radios.

Sara just smiled at them, knowing that a prime opportunity had come about. "I don't think I have to tell you boys what to say," she said coolly.

Their hands up, one of the guards slowly unclipped his radio and said, "Everything clear, over."

The other guard unclipped his radio and spoke into it, "All set on this end, over."

"Good," said the voice on the other end, "check-up in ten, out."

Sara smiled at them and said, "Fine job, guys. Now, turn around." Doing as they were told with their hands up, Sara then hit them in the head, rendering them unconscious. Holstering her guns again, she picked up her shotgun and unsheathed the Witchblade's long sword. Slashing at the fence she created an opening and slipped in.

* * *

"Ms. Vitelli…"

"Mr. Post," she nodded in reply. "I trust you have my merchandise."

"And I trust that you have my money."

Amy smiled as Sean opened up a black briefcase filled with hundred-dollar bills. "250,000 dollars," she said, "all for you."

His eyes glazed over with greed. He reached out his hand toward the bills saying, "Yes, all for me."

Sean closed the briefcase, much to the man's surprise. "The merchandise, Mr. Post. I showed you mine, now you show me yours."

Smiling, Devlin had his man bring out a small box. Upon opening it, Amy's eyes lit up. There in the box stood a small red stone, perfectly cut and rich in its entire blood-colored luster. She stretched out her hand to touch, only to retract it and gather her self-control. She nodded to Sean, who handed the black briefcase to Devlin's man as he handed Sean the stone.

"I believe this concludes our business, Dona Vitelli," Devlin said.

"Unless I can retain your services to acquire the other two stones, then it does." All of a sudden, Amy sensed something. She turned her head slowly, looking around. Someone had decided to crash her little party,

"Is that so?" he asked curiously. "Well, that being the case, I would require payment of..."

"Quiet," she interrupted, "it seems we have an uninvited guest." Sean immediately picked up his radio and started talking into it, alerting the other guards to an intruder. When he left, the fourteen vampire guards that Amy had hired started to fan out, six checking the perimeter and the others staying behind.

But Amy didn't want to let the opportunity of killing Sara up close and personal to pass her by. She started walking slowly toward the darkness that surrounded them, the only light being from the moon above. Coming upon a set of girders, she was confident her prey was near, quite possibly behind that batch. Getting closer, she and her guards were surprised from behind as Sara jumped down from a tall set of dry cement bags and pointed her shotgun at them.

"Detective Pezzini," Amy said calmly.

"Amy."

"Certainly wasn't expecting you to show up here."

"Back up, all of you," Sara ordered, the group backing up toward Devlin and his small group.

"Come on, Detective," Amy said smugly, "you know how useless guns are against vamps."

"Oh, really?" Sara replied. She then pointed her shotgun and got closer to one of the vampire, aiming the muzzle at his neck. She pulled the trigger and the next thing anyone knew, he was dust. She pulled the pump handle and loaded another shell into the chamber, pointing it at Amy.

"I beg to differ."

"Alright, alright, I get it," Amy said playfully. "This is about last night's little ambush. Trust me, I wasn't too happy about it either. I mean, you go to such lengths to kill people and they come out with nary a scratch on them." Amy looked at Sara and cocked her head slightly. "Or did they?"

Sara slightly twitched at the self-satisfaction of the person standing before her. She couldn't believe it; Amy had sent one of hers to the hospital and had the gall to be gleeful about it. But if she didn't betray her feelings by barging in on the property, she did when Amy questioned last night's ambush.

Amy smiled. She noticed the detective's agitation at the question and decided to provoke her even more, as foolhardy as the notion was. "Who was it?" she asked, grinning at her own bluntness. "Was it one of the girls?" She then smiled wide and said, "Or maybe, it was the stuffy Watcher..."

"Shut up! Shut up!" Sara shouted, keeping the muzzle pointed at Amy's head. She had come here to kill the woman, but something deep inside restrained her. Giles' voice, the girls' disappointment, and her own conscience held her back. She had never been a cold-blooded killer, and now she was dancing on the edge of being one.

"You can't take us all, Sara."

"No, but I can kill you sure enough."

"You know I can take that away at any time," Amy said threateningly.

"Yeah, I know," Sara replied. "That's why I got this." Reaching her left hand into her jacket pocket, she brought out a small cylindrical object. Forcing the pin out she threw it on the ground and quickly closed her eyes and covered her ears.

Curiosity had led Amy to look at the object. That same curiosity would also render her and her companions blind and deaf as the flash grenade exploded. Amy screamed out as her eyes and ears were made temporarily useless.

"You can't take what you can't see," Sara quipped.

Rubbing her eyes Amy yelled out, "Get her!"

Sara moved over to Amy and pointed the shotgun at her head. It was so easy now; one shot and she would end this farce. But she hesitated, hesitated to cross a line that she had been ready to go beyond just hours earlier, and that hesitation cost her. Vampires had excellent hearing and one of them had faintly heard Sara's footsteps along the dirt and gravel. He tackled her and a shot fired. The others followed suit after hearing the shot and the scuffle. Sara jumped up, her shotgun still in hand, and lunged at one of the approaching vamps, stabbing him directly in the heart. As he turned to dust, she hit another one in the face with the butt of the shotgun and stabbed another one in the heart.

Luckily, Devlin had moved far back enough to avoid the full effects of the flash grenade. Though he had only a few men with him, he knew he had a potential cash cow in Amy. And that cow was about to run dry if this cop had her way. It was a prospect he deemed unacceptable. "Get her!" he ordered.

His three men, all human, ran toward the cop, who was defending herself against five vampires. She still held on to her shotgun and pointed it at one of the vamps. It was a clean shot, but not a kill one. It would only buy her some time. After she fired, another vamp kicked away the shotgun and punched Sara in the face. She brought out her two pistols and fired as fast as she could her advancing foes. Guns in hand, Devlin's men were about to fire when they saw her fire at them instead. They dropped down to the ground to avoid her shots, somewhat wild given the circumstances. While many found their mark, they had only succeeded in staving off the vampires.

After emptying her clips, she threw her guns down, knowing that she had no time to reload. Sara activated the Witchblade and brought out her sword. Wielding it around she tried as best she could to fend off her attackers. The vampire that ran at her she quickly sidestepped and beheaded. But there was no time to revel in the kill as one lunged in and was swiped in the chest. Another came in on her left and grabbed her arm. She kicked him in the leg and backfisted him, only to be grabbed from behind by the another vampire. She headbutted him and he let go. She quickly turned around and ran him through the stomach. Though he growled in pain, his feral yellow eyes told Sara she had made a big mistake. With her good hand stuck in his gut, he repeatedly punched her in the face. Pushing her away he kicked her in the stomach and she staggered back into another vampire. She quickly elbowed him and threw him over her shoulder and to the ground. She then dragged her sword across the gravel and through his neck, beheading him. She looked up only to see the formerly impaled vampire kick her in the face, making her fall back to the ground. He then jumped on top of her and proceeded to punch her in the face again.

Sara reeled from the blows. But in her daze she had enough coherence to extend her short blade and stab the vampire in the side. While it worked in getting him off of her, it did nothing to stop the assault against her. The vampire she had swiped in the chest came over and kicked her in the stomach over and over. With the strength she had left she pushed him away only to have the vampire she ran through approaching with a metal pipe. Forming her sword again she intercepted his blow and cleaved it in half. It didn't stop, however, the subsequent kick to her face. The other two vampires grabbed an already tired Sara and stood her up as they took turns hitting her. Their blows were just enough to soften her up.

"Hold her still!" the vampire with the cleaved pipe said. Sara's cut had made the pipe more lethal than before, as its head now bore a sharp end.

"Finish her and let's get out of here!" Amy yelled out, her blindness now replaced by blurs of motion.

"No problem," he said. He approached Sara slowly. She was bleeding from her nose and mouth, her visage a picture of violence and rage realized on its intended victim. Her stomach was bruised and ached from the blows. Her head throbbed and her right eye was beginning to swell. The vampire with the cleaved pipe came toward her. He hit her in the stomach with the blunt end, forcing her to cough up blood. He then grabbed her hair and pulled it back.

"Well, I was hoping we could have a good time tonight, gorgeous," he said sinisterly. "What a waste." He pointed the sharp end of the pipe toward her face, smiling as he brought it closer and closer. "Still," he remarked, "I guess dinner's on you." Sara watched wide-eyed, breathing quickly and sharply, as the vampire touched the cleaved end just under her chin and slid it menacingly down her neck. It was then when Amy felt something powerful, or rather someone, and whipped her head around. She knew who it was. It was a witch she had formed a bond with briefly before trying to kill her. "No…"

Just as he was about to plunge the pipe into Sara's neck, an arrow flew through the air and landed in the armed vampire's chest. He looked down in surprise and turned to dust. The two other vampires looked where the shot came from and saw something they hoped never to see.

"I think the lady declines, guys," Buffy said as she held her crossbow. There she stood, flanked by five Slayers and Willow.

"Kill them! Kill them all!" Amy yelled. As the vampires let Sara go, Amy journeyed over to the cop. She had just enough vision to know where the woman was and where to hit.

Devlin's men pointed their guns against the girls. As soon as they saw them do so, everyone ducked behind the steel girders as they fired. Buffy just looked at Willow and called out her name. "Willow…"

"I'm on it," the redhead replied. As soon as the firing stopped, Willow came from behind the girders. Stretching out her hands she telekinetically took the guns from their assailant's hands and pointed their weapons at them. She had no respect for those who used guns to terrorize and destroy others, and she certainly had no respect for these guys.

"You know, I really hate these things." The men stood there, scared of their fate. But luckily for them Willow wasn't that type of person and proceeded to swirl the guns around as if caught in a small tornado. The gunmen were being knocked on the head and in the face by their own weapons and as soon as they were rendered unconscious, Willow made a crushing gesture with her hands and turned the guns into scrap.

That still left Amy and the two vampires… until more who had been searching the perimeter arrived from the rear of the Slayer brigade. Upon hearing them arrive the six Slayers turned around and were soon embroiled in a melee. Only Michelle noticed Amy advancing on one Sara Pezzini.

Amy went up to the woman and kicked her so hard she was lifted off of the ground. Sara, already weak from her blows, tried to resist the next kick and crossed her arms as it came. Despite her efforts, she was thrown across the ground by it and slid to a stop. Amy then walked over to Sara and grabbed the detective's neck with her right hand, her gauntlet fully visible, and lifted her off of the ground.

"I see you now," Amy said wickedly. Applying more pressure to Sara's throat, she began to squeeze the life out of the cop.

Sara started to feel her world go black. She thought on the people who mattered most to her and felt regret when she thought of Giles. She would never see him again and she didn't avenge him by taking out the one who put him in the hospital. She started to think it was all over… until she noticed a blur rushing towards them.

"No!" Michelle yelled as she tackled Amy, thus releasing Sara from her grasp. After tumbling to the ground, Amy became frustrated; she was determined to see that at least one of these 'do-gooders' die tonight.

"Meddling little…" she retorted before grabbing Michelle's head with her gloved hand. Smiling wickedly, red-hued electricity started to course through Michelle's head. At first, her cries were small, the pain being slightly bearable. But soon it culminated in a full-fledged scream, as the pain became worse.

"Not the brightest move to make," she said as the girl's nose started to bleed. It was then when Sara decided to return the favor for Michelle's help. "No!" she yelled out before delivering a double-footed jump side kick to Amy's body. Though powerful, Sara had delivered it with all of her might and fell to the ground exhausted.

She released her grip on the girl and rolled on the ground, but quickly recovered. Though her eyesight was still blurry from the grenade, she was ready to continue the fight until she saw Buffy, Willow, and the rest of the Slayers stop right to the side of her. Willow's hands were covered in flames.

"Stand down, Amy," Buffy said.

"You're not in a position to give orders," she retorted. Though Buffy and company had taken out most of the vampires, they were still enclosed by humans who had guns, machine guns at that, and were primed and ready to fire.

"You're right," Buffy remarked. "That's why I called the police before we got here."

"You're bluffing."

"You've got eight," Buffy said before looking at her watch, "no, seven minutes to find out. So unless you want to spend time explaining to them why a bunch of girls and a cop ended up dead on your property, I suggest you let us take Sara and go."

Amy stood there, unhappy with the prospect of explaining anything to the police. No doubt they would peruse into every nook, cranny, crooked deal, and record to find out why one of theirs and a group of girls died on land she owned. And that was unacceptable.

"Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock..." Buffy quipped.

Shuffling her fighting stance into a passive one, Amy decided she had gotten what she wanted out of the evening and said, "Let them go." She turned over to Sara, who was standing with Michelle's support, and said, "Don't worry; we'll get around to finishing this soon. You can count on it."

Sara scowled at Amy. She and Michelle walked over to the rest of their group, each holding the other for support as Michelle was still dazed from Amy's attack. The group hurried away from Amy's men, back near the van that had crashed through the front gate and loaded into it. Kennedy started up the van and sped off.

"Were you bluffing?" Sara asked Buffy in an exhausted voice. But upon hearing the police sirens a good distance away from sight, she found her answer.

"Does that answer your question?"

Sara nodded.

"Is everyone alright?" Buffy asked, looking around the back and front of the van. Everyone nodded in reply. Some had a few cuts and bruises, but nothing severe.

"Are you alright, Sara?" she asked. "Anything broken? Do you need to get to a hospital?"

"No," Sara replied, still breathing heavily.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Sara replied.

"Good…" Buffy said softly before delivering a punch to the woman's jaw. She had pulled it, knowing she was stronger than the cop was and that Sara couldn't take a really strong one in her present state.

"That's for doing something so mind-numbingly stupid!" she yelled out. "You could have gotten killed, Sara; you could have gotten _us _killed, all because you wanted revenge! Is that what Giles would've wanted? He's spent a lot of time and effort helping you to control the Witchblade, and you nearly destroyed all of that work for payback!"

"I had to do something!" Sara yelled back, reeling from the punch.

"Then you should've been with Giles!" Buffy shouted. "You should've been by his side!"

"I couldn't!"

"Why?" she asked angrily, tears forming in her eyes. "Why couldn't you be there when he needed you the most?"

"Because it's my fault he's there!" Sara shouted. "He's there because of me, because I got him shot. And I couldn't go back, I couldn't go back, and it's all my fault, it's all my faaaaauuuult…" The woman broke down and her outburst turned in wailing. Falling forward in her grief her head fell into the Slayer's arms, the weeping Buffy letting Sara release all of the emotion and guilt she felt. The rest in the van stayed silent and somber as the two held each other. Sara continued to cry loudly, the salt from her tears stinging her wounds and soaking Buffy's jacket.

And the van sped off into the night, a night that embraced its weary warriors.


	10. Chapter X

**To my readers:** First, thanks for all the hits and reviews. Second, here's another chapter for you guys to chew on. Hope you like it.

* * *

_**3:13 pm, Sunday – NYU Hospital**_

The constant beep of the heart monitor and steady rhythm of the ventilator lulled Buffy to sleep. Her head resting on the corner of her chair next to Giles' bed, she had found the furniture piece surprisingly comfortable.

A hand reached slowly toward hers, with tubing attached to the back of it. It lightly bristled against her resting fingers and tensed up. Buffy moved at the touch, slightly startled, but smiling at the awakened figure before her.

"Hey there, sleepyhead," she said as she was roused from her sleep. "We sure missed you."

Under his breathing mask, Giles slowly smiled. His former charge was with him, like a daughter coming back home. Despite his condition, he was beginning to feel better with her around.

"You get some rest, Giles," Buffy said. "I'll let the others know." She went over and hugged him gently, his weakened arms barely grasping her shoulders. She smiled at him and left the room.

As he lay in bed, Giles thought to himself. _Once again, old chap, you barely escape death._

_**  
3:56 pm, Sunday – Sara Pezzini's Apartment**_

Sara sat in her unlit apartment, forlorn and somber. She had already left a message to schedule a physical. Until that happened, work was out of the question for a while. She had felt so much worse than before. She nearly got Giles killed, she nearly got some of the girls killed, and alienated her partners all in the span of two days. She had hoped that when she signed on to be a 'special consultant' to The Watchers' Council, things would get better and she would finally learn to control the impulses of the Witchblade. _There's that word again_, she thought. _Hope_.

The Scoobies had tried to call her over the weekend, but to no avail. She wasn't answering. Truth be told, she didn't want to face them at all, not after what happened; how could she? Sitting down in her living room she sat on her couch, surrounded by silence… until the phone rang. She let it ring until the voicemail picked it up.

"Hello?" the female voice said. "Sara, it's Buffy. I just wanted you to know that Giles is awake."

Sara eyes lit up, but she soon relented from expressing the joy she felt at the girl's good news.

"I left him to rest some more," Buffy continued, "but some of us are planning on dropping by later on tomorrow. I know he'd like it if you came by too."

After the message ended Sara looked at the machine, walked over to it, and pressed 'Delete'.

_**  
2:27 pm, Monday – NYU Hospital**_

It had been a busy day. Slayer well-wishers came in throughout the day while Buffy and Willow stayed. Kennedy and a few others came in during the afternoon and some, like Michelle, came in after work or class. As daylight began to wane and visitors became fewer, Buffy sat down and began to talk with Giles.

"How are you so far?" she asked.

"Still tired," Giles replied in a raspy voice. "Buffy, I wanted to ask you something..."

"Sure, Giles. What is it?"

"I… uh, well… I wanted to ask you about Sara."

"Oh," Buffy responded.

"I noticed she didn't stop by today. I wanted to know how she was."

"She… took your injury pretty hard, Giles, especially after she found out the bullet bounced off of the Witchblade."

"I don't blame her for what happened," Giles said quickly, futilely hoping that somewhere Sara would miraculously hear it.

"None of us did, Giles," Buffy said. "None of us except Sara. So much so that she had a lot of trouble dealing with it."

Giles listened to Buffy's cryptic statement and suspected there was more to the story than she let on. "Why do I get the feeling there's something you're not telling me?" he asked.

"I was getting to it. Just remember, the doctor said you're going to have to stay calm while you heal."

Giles raised his eyebrows.

_**  
2:36 pm, Monday – Sara Pezzini's Apartment**_

Sara hadn't left her apartment all day. She still wore the clothes she went to bed in and they showed it, as they were quite rumpled. She didn't even bother to shower, her troubles weighing on her mind and effectively incapacitating her. All that, and she was scheduled for a unnecessary physical the next morning just to show that she could function at work without collapsing. Work was the only thing she was looking forward to, as its rigors would keep her busy enough to keep last week's actions out of her mind. She was just about to go back to sleep when she felt a presence near her apartment, followed a few seconds later by a knock on the door.

She slowly walked over to the door and undid the locks. Though she knew who it was when she felt her, opening the door she saw a person she didn't expect to see.

"Willow."

"Sara."

"Thought for sure Buffy would send herself over."

"Nope," Willow said, "just me." She looked around Sara's apartment, viewing the couch where she slept. Covers were strewn about it, and trash from foodstuffs littered the area. "I see you've been kind of bumming it."

"Yeah, well, I figured I would since I can't go back to work until I have a physical," Sara said in return.

Willow winced. "Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't know you were at the precinct when that happened."

Though Sara knew the young woman meant well, she had little desire to speak to anyone today or do anything that wasn't work-related. She asked Willow pointedly, "What are you doing here, Willow?"

"What are _you_ doing here, Sara?"

Sara smirked and said, "Last time I checked, this was my apartment."

"Funny," Willow retorted, "'cause it kind of looks like a cage to me."

"Look, if you came here to…"

"I didn't come here to fight, Sara," Willow said, putting her hands up. "I came here to find out where a friend was and why she hasn't talked to us, let alone stopped by for a visit."

"Sorry, Willow, but I don't much feel like stopping by for a visit after what happened."

"Oh, you mean after alienating your friends and nearly getting them killed on a vengeance quest after someone you cared about got shot?"

Sara just stared at her.

"Hey, it's happened before," the young witch quipped.

"Yeah, I guess you'd know all about that, huh?"

"Unfortunately, I do," Willow replied, her tone changing. "I also know about the feeling afterward: the guilt, the shame, the fear. You think that no one will ever trust you again, that your friends will reject you after seeing what you were capable of. I know all about that, Sara and I'm here to tell you that you don't have to feel that way. We don't think any less of you."

"I do," Sara said. "Willow, you don't understand: I nearly killed Giles."

"_Sean_ nearly killed Giles," Willow corrected.

"No, Giles would have never gotten hit if it wasn't for the Witchblade."

Soon realization came to Willow's face. "That's what you're worried about, isn't it?" she asked. "You're afraid of hurting everyone because of it."

"Willow, I live in fear every day of what could happen with this thing," Sara replied. "I think every moment about who might end up hurt or dead because it doesn't want to play ball. Being a cop I know how to handle not being able to save everyone. I know how to accept that you can't always be there. But seeing your best efforts make matters worse… that's something I don't think I can deal with."

"Sara," Willow said in a reassuring tone, "you've done a lot of good, on the job and off. Some of the girls are alive because of you. Remember the raid on that after-hours torture club? We'd be short a few Slayers if you hadn't reacted to that trap. You've helped us out a lot. No one could have seen what was going to happen on that mission... _no one_. Don't beat yourself up for it."

Sara paused and gave out a loud sigh. She wanted all of the guilt and shame to go away, but the image of Giles on the ground covered in blood kept pushing itself to the forefront of her mind. Trying to keep herself occupied by talking she asked, "How's Giles?"

"Why don't you go find out?"

"No," she replied abruptly. "No, I couldn't face him, not after what happened."

"Why not?"

"What am I supposed to say?' Sara asked.

"'Hey, Giles, how are you?' sounds fine," Willow quipped.

"I can't, Willow. I just feel… like I let him down, like I betrayed his trust or something."

"You care about him a lot, don't you?" Willow asked, sensing there was more to Sara's apprehension than she was letting on.

"When most people who know about the Witchblade either plan to kill you or manipulate you, having someone tell you they don't care about any of that stuff and be sincere is… comforting. I just don't want to lose that."

"Well, you'll definitely lose it if you never talk to him again," Willow said. "You should go see him. The doctors say he can come home on Thursday and we're throwing him a little party at home. You don't have to come, but I know everyone would be happy to see you. And I know Giles would too. It's your choice, but Giles is going to need all the support he can get while he recovers. So, you can either avoid him for the rest of your life, or you can be there for him, like he would for you." Willow paused to let her words sink in, hoping they would spark something side the detective. "See you later, Sara," she said. And with that, the redhead left the apartment, as a disheveled Sara reflected on her words.

Sitting down on her couch, the cop let out a loud sigh and stared out her window, her weary and somber face pondering the days ahead.

_**  
3:51 pm, Monday – NYU Hospital**_

Buffy had told Giles the events that transpired after he went unconscious and, needless to say,he was none too pleased. To him, it wasn't necessarily that Sara had lost it and went on a vengeance quest, although that was bad enough. It was also the fact that he thought he had done a better job of helping her control the Witchblade and her emotions. In some way, he felt that Sara's failure reflected his own failures in adequately guiding her.

She walked out into the hallway to get a drink of water; it was partially to quench her thirst and partially to leave Giles to ponder things alone. She knew he was taking Sara's actions quite hard, as he believed they reflected on how successful he was in helping her to control the Witchblade. Buffy knew that adjustments would have to be made if they were to defeat Amy, something that seemed increasingly unlikely as the days went by. Musing over what those adjustments would have to be, she was brought out of her thoughts by an approaching Willow.

"Everything all right with Giles?" Willow asked.

"More or less," Buffy replied. "I'm taking off. I'll see you later tonight, okay?"

"Sure, no problem." As Buffy left, Willow walked into Giles' room.

"How did everything go?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

"As well as expected," Willow replied. "She's really taking this thing hard."

"Well, hopefully she'll pull through."

"I don't know, Giles. It's like… she's holding something back, like she's afraid of herself and what could happen."

"She carries the Witchblade, a very unpredictable weapon. That's bound to cause much apprehension."

"I know, it's just… I just wish she'd just confront what's bothering her. You know, open up and talk about it."

"Right," Giles said in a soft and somber tone. "Perhaps she isn't the only one who should be doing that."

"Huh?" Willow said, confused.

"I've done quite a lot of thinking since I've been here. Believe me, given the limited activities one can engage in here, thinking is quite possibly the only thing you can do."

"About what?"

"About facing my fears and apprehensions."

"Giles," she said, "you're not making any sense."

"I've been thinking about the test I gave her."

"Oh, _that_. What about it?"

"I'm not sure it was necessarily the right thing to do." He hesitated to elaborate, but slowly said, "It wasn't _just_ to test her progress."

"What do you mean?" Willow asked in a low voice, wondering about the cryptic statement.

Giles started out slowly, trying to get the words out. "I… uh, well… um…" After a long and painful deep breath he said, "When two people work together, uh, they, um… sometimes certain feelings arise."

"Oh," Willow said. After a second or two, it sunk in. "Ohhhh…."

"Believe me, it was never my intention. But nevertheless I saw what was happening and I… reacted."

"You gave her the test to push her away," she replied, realization hitting her.

"Yes," Giles affirmed.

"Why? I mean, were you that scared of how she might feel about you?"

"The test wasn't _just _for her, Willow," he replied. "It was also for me."

"You mean you…?"

"Yes."

"Well… I was wondering how long it'd take you to realize that."

"What?"

"Giles, I knew you had feelings for her," Willow replied. "I saw it in the way you looked at each other sometimes. Even some of the girls saw it."

"You knew?"

"Well, I had my suspicions about the test, but I did know you felt something for her."

"I know you vocalized your objections," Giles said.

"I asked you if you thought it was necessary and you said it was," Willow said in a slightly pointed tone. "I should have gone with my first instinct. I kept thinking it was just the Watcher side coming out."

"Not completely," he said.

"Giles… why didn't you just tell her how you felt?"

"Because I didn't think it was the time do such a thing," he replied. "Willow, we're at war with Amy and trying to reorganize something that will take years of hard work and dedication. Coupled with the complications of the Witchblade and I think any relationship might be in jeopardy before it starts."

"I see…" Willow said. "So you were just a coward, huh?"

"Excuse me?"

"You were scared of what might happen and instead of being upfront about it, you chose to push her away."

"Willow, I…"

"No, Giles," Willow interrupted, clearly irritated. "I've known you long enough to know that's exactly what you did. I know we've all had pretty bad luck in relationships, but I just can't believe you''d do something like that."

"I was trying to protect everyone involved... including myself."

"You can keep telling yourself that," Willow said. "Giles, did you ever think that maybe part of the reason Sara's had a hard time with her progress is because she feels all alone, like she has to keep everyone at arm's length?"

Giles furrowed his brow and thought about the question.

"It's no secret she's the most distant," Willow continued. "And when she does talk to us, she rarely talks about anything beyond the field work stuff. As a matter of fact, the reason we had a hard time finding her after you got shot was because no one really had any clue about her… except you. And pushing her away like you did couldn't have helped."

"What do you want me to do, Willow?" Giles asked rhetorically. "Run up to her and tell her that I have feelings for her?"

"I guess it's really up to you. You could go on pretending like you feel nothing for her and keep her at arm's length… or you could be honest with her and tell her truth."

Giles looked downward as Willow stood up from the chair in the room.

"I'll see you later, Giles."

And with that, the Watcher was left to contemplate his former pupil's words. He thought not only of what she said, but all of the things that lay ahead in future. He knew the days ahead would be most difficult and trying, requiring them to make adjustments and adapt. He also knew he would have to make some decisions about his own life. The challenges would come; that was inevitable. The only question was whether or not they would be ready to face them.


	11. Chapter XI

**To my readers:** Thanks for checking out my story and sticking with it. Like I said, I know where I want to go with this and I hope you'll like it.

**To my reviewers:** Thank for the feedback and stuff. It always helps to make sure I don't get absurd and actually lay out a case for my decisions (ref. Peter's Evil Overlord List #61 - _If my advisers ask "Why are you risking everything on such a mad scheme?", I will not proceed until I have a response that satisfies them - __Copyright 1996-1997 by Peter Anspach_).

**Doza:** I was debating on whether or not to pair them together for awhile and the result is in the story below. However, in analyzing Giles and Sara's relationship I saw stark differences from Buffy and Giles and even Willow and Giles. I actually thought of it in 'Star Wars' terms. Giles/Buffy/Willow have a Yoda/Mace Windu/Obi-Wan relationship, loosely speaking; Yoda instructed both Mace and Obi-Wan (pre-Padawan and advised in their formative years) and they grew up to be respected members of the Jedi Council, colleagues of Yoda. However, Sara and Giles are more akin to Mara Jade and Luke. I mean that by saying that Mara had years of experience in her own profession before meeting Luke and learning from him. As such, they could never see each other as a father/daughter figure. I believe that despite Sara learning from Giles, he would see her as a respected colleague expanding her skills rather than like a daughter. That's my reasoning.

**To those who haven't reviewed:** I'll offer a bribe... Rice Krispy Treats. Mmmm... you know you want 'em.

* * *

_**1:14 pm, Thursday – NYU Hospital**_

Buffy walked toward Giles' room from the vending machine. They were set and almost ready to go; all that was left was some post-op recovery directions from Dr. Prakesh and paperwork. As she journeyed down the hall, she saw a figure near Giles' room, who swiftly put his hand in the medical chart box. She walked faster and faster toward the figure as he started to leave.

"Hey!" she yelled.

The figure didn't stop walking. She stopped at Giles' room to see if he was alright and was relieved to find him seemingly uninjured. He stared inquisitively at her worried expression. Walking toward the intersection of the hallway, she looked around for the figure, who was no where to be found. Coming up empty, she journeyed back to the room and looked in the chart box. She pulled out a card with some sort of character drawn on it. It looked East Asian, from what she could tell. Seeing Dr. Prakesh approach, Buffy pocketed the card; she would tell Giles about it as soon as they were alone.

"Hey, doc," Buffy greeted, the mysterious figure still on her mind.

"Good afternoon," she replied. Walking into the room, she said, "How are we feeling today, Mr. Giles?"

"Alright so far," he replied.

"That's good. I know you're probably eager to get home."

"Actually, aside from the injury, my stay was quite comfortable," Giles said.

"Well, the hospital administrators would be glad to hear that," she jibed. Taking out a pen for notes she said, "Alright, Mr. Giles, I've written you a few prescriptions. One is an oral antibiotic for the wound. I've also written you a pain reliever and an oxygen tank to assist in your breathing until you fully recover. Use them for about a month and come in if you have any problems."

"Thank you, Doctor," Giles said.

"Also, you're going to have to take it easy for awhile. No stressful activities and make sure you don't elevate your blood pressure too much. Keep it within normal limits. That means _decaffeinated _tea."

"Ouch," Buffy quipped.

"Well, if it means less 'ouch' later on, you can live without it for a while," she said. The doctor handed Giles the scripts. "There you are. Remember, if you experience any complications, come in as soon as possible."

"Will do, doctor," Giles said. "Thank you."

"Thanks, doc," Buffy replied.

"You're welcome. Just head to the outpatient desk and they'll take care of the rest of the paperwork."

As Buffy rolled Giles in his wheelchair toward the outpatient desk, she remembered about the strange card she found in his box. Taking it out, she looked over it once more briefly. She'd hoped that he would figure out its meaning. 

"Here you go, Giles," Buffy said as she handed him the card. "I found this in your box. Someone put in there, but he left before I could get to him."

Giles looked at the card and immediately recognized its style. "It's Japanese, as far as I can tell, though I'm not exactly sure what it means. I'd have to consult some books." He turned the card over and saw the phone number. "Did you call the number?" he asked as he handed it back.

"I just found it," Buffy replied. "Did I ever tell you how much I hate cryptic?"

"Well, we'll just show it to Sara," he said as they stood near the outpatient desk, waiting for the paperwork to finish. "Maybe she'll recognize it."

"Yeah, that's _if_ she actually shows her face some time this century," she said.

"She will, sooner or later. Just give her time, Buffy."

"Giles, I don't think time is something we have to spare."

As soon as they were handed the finished paperwork, they went outside where Kennedy sat in the van (or 'Mystery Machine I', as they called it) waiting on the both of them. When she saw them approach, she smiled and went to help Giles' in. As they folded up the wheelchair and attempted to assist him and his oxygen tank into the backseat, he slightly protested.

"Ladies, I'm not a _complete_ invalid."

"Not completely," Buffy replied, "but we're helping you in all the same. You're going to need all the help you can get until you recover and I'm making sure you get it."

"Ditto," Kennedy said in agreement. 

Giles had to admit: he was touched by the gesture. They had truly become his family and would always be so, whether close like Buffy and Willow or miles away like Xander. He felt good going back to what had become his new home. The only thing missing was a certain detective. He had done a lot of thinking in the past few days and made some tough decisions, all of which required her presence.

They journeyed home, Giles pondering all the way about a myriad of things: how he would have to adjust his life temporarily for the foreseeable future, how effective he would be when Amy made new attempts at securing her power. But most of all, he thought of Sara. Would she even visit? Would she be able to recover herself before Amy took advantage? Would she…?

He was brought out of his thoughts as the van stopped at home. Exiting the van, once again with Buffy and Kennedy's help, he walked toward the front entrance and into the lobby. There he was greeted by a 'Welcome Home' banner and a group of waiting, happy well-wishers.

"Welcome home, Giles!" Adrienne greeted.

"Hey, Giles!" Monica said.

The group, eight in all including Willow, ran up to Giles and hugged him, the Slayers being as gentle as possible. Giles warmly received every hug he could.

"Thank you, all of you," he said. "You're the best friends anyone could ever have."

"Take a seat," Adrienne said as she led him to the couch. "Some of the girls will be coming later on, after school and work."

Giles happily sat, looking forward to relaxing once things settled down. Willow walked over and sat with him, saying, "The girls wanted to make sure you had a nice homecoming. They fixed up your room, all nice and neat. They even put some wood polish on the furniture."

"Well, that's quite a nice surprise," he replied.

"As opposed to the ever-dreaded, 'uh-oh' surprise," she quipped.

"Right. I… I just wish…"

"Sara was here?" Willow finished.

"Yes."

Glancing over Giles shoulder for a moment, she said, "I'm certain she'll show up."

"You think?" he asked in a hopeful tone.

"Oh, I'm more than sure." Willow then nodded her head toward the entrance.

Giles looked over and saw the young detective. The room was slightly hushed at her presence, but Willow went up to her and gave the woman a hug and said, "Glad you could make it."

"Well, you tend to be pretty persuasive. Say, you didn't happen to pick up...?"

"We got your weapons," Willow replied. "Adrienne picked them up right before we left the warehouse. We also went back later on and picked up your car. Turns out she knows how to hot-wire one."

"Good."

"Hey, Pez," Adrienne greeted.

"Hey," Sara greeted back.

"Nice to see you, Sara," Buffy said.

"You too."

Giles stood up and slowly walked over to her, smiling at her presence. Whatever pain he felt melted away when he saw her. He had hoped she would come and now she was here, in front of him, smiling at him. But in her eyes he saw a restrained sadness, overwhelming sorrow held back by a tough exterior built from years of mistrust and hurt, threatening to break forth like water from a dam.

"Sara..." he said.

"Hey, Giles," she replied softly.

"I'm glad you came."

"Me too."

Soon some of the girls started to talk to Giles to break the awkward moment of Sara's arrival and Willow was left chatting with her. The girls' conversation with Giles started with the hospital food, which Giles had found quite tasty despite its infamous reputation. After only a few minutes, however, it started to drift to the necessities for his recovery, something that Sara began listen to.

"Well, I need a few prescriptions dropped off at the pharmacy," Giles replied. "One for antibiotics…"

Sara heard that and felt her heart clutch.

"…one for pain…" Giles continued.

Her mind started to race and her heart filled ever more with pity and guilt at what she was hearing.

"I also need more oxygen tanks to last a month, to help with my breathing…"

Upon hearing that, Sara abruptly spoke up. "Giles, um… did you want some tea? I could make you some tea." She walked quickly toward the kitchen, eager to leave all the talk of his ailments.

"Um, decaffeinated," Giles said as she left. "Green, if we have any."

"Right," Sara said, "Green, decaf."

Hurrying into the kitchen she went directly to the cabinet to fetch the tea bags, only to see there was no more green tea. Looking through the cabinet earnestly, she came up dry and settled on chamomile. Grabbing the teapot she hung it from the faucet, filled it up, and set it on the stove. She then went back to the sink to clean out one of dirty mugs. As she let the cold water run through mug and scrubbed with the cleaning brush, she started to cry. She had brought herself here to see Giles and now she was avoiding him again. Though everyone told her that she needn't feel guilty for what happened, she nevertheless felt responsible. Sean may have pulled the trigger, but the Witchblade deflected the bullet and Giles almost became a casualty as a result.

Giles slowly stepped into the kitchen. He had seen how flustered Sara was when she left their presence and wanted to know why. He also knew that a prime opportunity had come about to say what he felt needed to be said and didn't want to waste any more time getting to it.

"Sara?"

"Giles!" she replied, startled at his entrance. Upon hearing his voice, Sara turned the water off and quickly started to wipe her eyes. "Um… we, we don't have any green tea. I'm afraid you'll have to go with chamomile."

"That's alright," he replied. Taking in a breath, he started to say something. "Sara…"

"Giles, " she interrupted. "I just… I just wanted to say..." Sara struggled to get the words out as she started to weep again, her hand covering her lips briefly. "I'm sorry," she said in a strained voice.

"What for?"

"I'm sorry, Giles… for everything… for what happened to you."

"You're not to blame for that," he reassured.

"I got you shot."

"I believe Sean was pulling the trigger."

"Even so, I still feel responsible," she replied. "Then the whole vengeance quest thing…"

"Yes, I heard about that," Giles said. "Surprising what goes on while you're unconscious."

"It was stupid, I know, but I just… I felt I had to do something."

"Sara, we've all done things we regret. I've had plenty of them, including something recent." Sara just looked at Giles, wondering just that regretful thing was. "You apologized to me, when it should be the other way around."

The confusion was written on Sara's face, slightly flushed from her weeping.

"I was, um, referring to the test I gave you last week," Giles clarified.

"Oh, that," Sara replied. "Well, in light of everything I think you were right to do it. I still need to learn more control if I plan on mastering the Witchblade."

"Maybe so, but some of my motives were all wrong," he said. "I didn't give you the test _just_ to analyze your control."

"What?" she asked in a slightly astonished voice.

Not looking at her and walking around the kitchen, Giles tried to explain. "When I was in the hospital, I had time to think. Actually, there wasn't much to do but think. I thought about how close I'd come to death. There have been many close calls, too many to count, but this was the closest by far. I kept thinking about how it would have all been finished: the fighting, the endless battles. Part of me even regretted _not_ dying."

Sara listed intently as Giles went on.

"But then I started to think about all of the people I cared about and how I wouldn't be apart of their lives anymore. I thought about Dawn, and seeing the woman she'd grow up to be. I thought about Buffy, Willow, Xander, even Kennedy for all her imperiousness. But, um, there was... " He nervously chuckled as he stopped midway in his explanation. "I thought about what I was going to say a million times in the hospital and now I'm at a loss for words."

"It's alright, Giles," she reassured. "You know you can tell me anything."

"Maybe," he said. "Maybe not. Sara, what I'm trying to say is that... there was one person I kept thinking about, someone I just had see again. It was you."

Sara just stood silent, surprised at the statement.

"I tried to think of a reason why, but…" He stopped to find the words, but something else came out. "Part of the reason I gave you the test was to push you away, to make you resent me for it."

She was shocked more than she thought possible. It was crazy; he'd given her the test to push her away? For what? "Why?" she asked. "Why would you do that?"

Giles continued. "When you live the kind of life and in the kind of world we live in, it becomes easy to cut yourself off from feeling anymore, to try and save yourself from pain. But you have no idea how hard is to be around you and keep yourself closed up. You have no idea how difficult it is to see you and keep every emotion you have bottled in and proceed as if it were just another day at the office. Every day that passed seeing you made it harder and harder. And it scared me witless."

"What are you saying, Giles?" she asked, though deep down inside she had a feeling she knew the answer.

"I was scared, Sara. I was scared of myself, scared about us, scared because…" he started to say before stopping to gather himself. He had planned this out to the letter and now was stumped for an answer. Still, she needed a response and he had to give something, anything. "Because… because…" he stumbled out. Girding himself and taking another deep, painful breath, he finally said it. "Because I'm in love with you."

Sara stood silent, her eyes widening at the revelation. She wasn't shocked now; she was absolutely flabbergasted. To say she was beside herself was an understatement. "I'm sorry... can you repeat that?"

"I said I'm in love with you."

To hear those words again threw her for a loop and she had no clue how to react; so she went with her first instinct. "Okay," she said, "whatever drugs they have you on must be good, 'cause you're talking crazy."

"Don't brush this off with your cynicism, Sara," he replied in a slightly frustrated voice. "It's not the drugs talking. Well, maybe partially, but they don't control how I feel."

"No!" she said forcefully. "No, Giles. This stops right now. You hear me? This isn't happening; this, this is crazy."

"Crazy for someone to have feelings for you? Did you hear what I said, Sara? I said I was in love with you."

"Will you _please_ stop saying that?" Clearly agitated, she let out a loud, exasperated sigh, saying, "Don't do this to me, Giles, not now."

"_To_ you? Sara, I'm not doing anything _to_ you. I'm not saying this because I want to hurt you; I'm saying this because there's something in me that finds you... beyond extraordinary. Your strength, your beauty, your character; you amaze me in ways I never thought possible. And there isn't a moment that goes by without me thinking about you. I tried to convince myself it was just nothing, that it was just a mere infatuation, but I can't do that anymore."

"I can't believe you're telling me this," she said, shaken from his words.

"I'm telling you this because that's how I feel. All I want to know is if you feel the same way."

"No, I don't," Sara replied quickly.

"You're lying. I can tell."

"Whatever you think, Giles," she shot back. "It doesn't matter because you're just... you don't know what you're saying, okay? You _can't_ know."

"And why do you think that?" he asked pointedly.

"Do you even understand how close you came to dying?" She began to yell, hoping it would drive the point home to him. "Your lung has a _hole _in it, from a bullet that bounced off of the Witchblade! And that's far from the worst thing that could happen to you! That's why I'm telling you that you don't know what you're saying: you don't understand the risks. Get over it, Giles."

"I do understand the risks," he replied with stern, "and I know exactly what I'm saying and what I'm asking. I'm asking if you for me the same way I feel about you, Sara, because I'm in love with you." He stepped closer to her, standing tall as best he could given his condition. "I'm in love with you, Sara Pezzini," he whispered as he leaned down to kiss her, Sara motionless as he came closer. She closed her eyes.

She could have stopped him; she could have halted him in his tracks and put an end to it all. She even put her hand on his chest in an attempt to do so, her lips quivering. But something inside of her wouldn't push him away. Indeed, it couldn't. When his lips touched hers it was like bliss, and all her troubles had momentarily melted away in a mere instance. The kiss was gentle yet firm, indicative of the man giving it. Her heart raced, its rhythm ever increasing throughout. Though it only lasted a few seconds, it felt like an eternity.

Giles pulled away only to see Sara with a surprised look on her face. He had to admit that the kiss was a bold move, but seeing her face made him think it was the wrong one to make. "Sara..."

"Giles, I... I..." she stammered.

"Yes?" Giles said, expectantly.

"I... have to go," she said quickly before rushing out of the kitchen.

"Sara, wait!" he exclaimed, following her. "Please, don't leave! I..."

Sara stopped before she reached the door and turned around. She looked at Giles, confusion and shock adorning her face.

"Sara..."

She turned back around and stepped out of the front entrance, away from the man who just moments ago had embraced her in a passionate kiss.

_Too_ _presumptuous, you fool,_ Giles thought. He looked around the lobby and saw the everyone stare at him in confusion.

"I think it's time for me to rest a bit," he said.

"Sure, Giles," Buffy said, still perplexed at what happened. "Let's, uh, get you upstairs."

* * *

Sara raced back to work on her motorcycle. She was taken aback by what just happened and could barely focus. Luckily, she had enough focus to make sure she didn't have an accident. When she got to the precinct, she darted toward the water cooler. Grabbing a cup she filled it and proceeded to drink as if quenching an undying thirst. Her actions didn't go unnoticed by a few of her colleagues. 

"Danny..." Jake said, "what's up with Pez?"

"What _isn't_ up with Pez?" Danny responded coldly, not bothering to lift his head from his paperwork.

"Just take a look over at the water cooler."

Danny looked over and saw his partner in a visibly anxious state. His first instinct was to go over and find out what happened to make her that way, but he remembered last week's incident and quickly stuffed the feeling down. _She'd probably brush it off like she always does_, he thought. "So what?" he said as he looked back down at his paperwork.

"Come on, man," Jake said. "It's been a couple of days since last Friday. Don't you think you should get over it?"

"Look, Jake, I try to be the best friend I can to her but all she does is push people away. Every time I stick my neck out to help I get kicked in the teeth for it. If she doesn't want to deal with her problems, why should I?"

"Because she's your partner, Danny. That alone should be enough."

"I used to think it was," Danny said. "Now I'm not so sure."

"Great," Jake said sarcastically, "abandon a friend when she needs you the most."

"I'm not abandoning her, I'm just... tired of trying to help her when she doesn't want to be helped."

"So essentially you're abandoning her," Jake said.

"What are you, a group therapist?" Danny asked, clearly annoyed.

"No. One, I need to know the people backing me up can actually work together. And two..." Jake paused. "you guys have been friends way too long to throw it away now. Don't kid yourself, Danny; you know as well as I do if she were in trouble you'd be there in a heartbeat. We got a risky job, man, and if anything should happen I don't want you guys to regret things. You should go over and talk to her."

As Jake walked away, Danny looked at Sara still near the water cooler. Jake was right and Danny knew he was trying to kid himself; he'd still be there for Sara even if she told him to get lost. Their friendship could survive what happened the previous week. Getting up from his desk, he slowly walked over his partner and stopped in front of her. He was just about to speak when he was preempted.

"Danny," Sara said, "can I talk to you for a second?"

"Uh... sure Pez," Danny replied, a tad confused.

They walked toward an empty conference room and closed the door. Danny sat on the table while Sara stood.

"So what's up?" he asked.

"First things first: Danny, I know that I, uh...haven't been the best friend in the world lately. And you were right, about last week. I was dealing with some stuff and took it badly. I shouldn't have blown you off like that and I'm sorry. I just wanted to know if we were, you know, cool."

Taking a few moments to think about things, Danny at last nodded his head and in a low voice said, "Yeah, we're cool." The tone was somewhat ambiguous to Sara, but for now it would have to do. "So what was the other thing?" he asked, shifting gears.

Sara took a deep breath. "I, uh, needed to talk to you about something and kind of wanted your advice."

"Sure. What is it?"

She took in another deep breath and slowly asked, "What if... what if someone you worked with told you... they had feelings for you?"

That was one thing Danny hadn't expected. Truth be told he knew it was probably one of the last questions he was expected to be asked by her.

"Um... well, I, uh..." he stammered out, feeling a tad uncomfortable. "You sure you don't want to talk someone else about this, maybe someone who was, you know... a woman? Like one of your girlfriends or something?"

"Ever since Maria died I haven't had anybody I could really talk to about this stuff."

"What about Cheryl?" he asked.

"Cheryl? And have my business be around the precinct in a millisecond? No thank you." Seeing Danny's hesitation to answer she said, "Come on, Danny, I could really use your help on this one."

"Well... I guess I'd have to ask myself if I felt the same way."

"That's the thing: I don't know," she replied.

"You've been in relationships before, Pez," Danny said. "You always know, even if you don't realize it. It's just the way you feel about them."

"But this one would be a lot more complicated."

"More than likely," Danny replied. Little did he know that he and Sara weren't thinking of the same man. While she had been talking about Giles, Danny thought Jake had made a move. "So, what did you do when he told you?"

"I, uh... I ran away."

"Wow," he said, surprised. "That's usually not the response a guy expects."

"I know, I know," Sara replied, realizing how hurtful to Giles it must have been. "He just... threw me for loop, you know? Especially when he kissed me."

"Well, Jake sometimes does... Jake kissed you?"

"Jake? No! No, I'm not talking about Jake," Sara said.

"You're not? " Danny asked. "I thought you said it was someone you worked with."

"Yeah, from my consulting gig," she clarified.

"Oh. Well, in any case the ball's in your court now. The question is: what are you going to do about it?"

They were interrupted by Jake, who had popped in get Danny. "Yo, Danny. I'm ready to head over to that murder scene if you are."

"Yeah, I'm ready," he replied.

"Thanks, Danny," Sara said gratefully.

"No problem, Pez. Think about what I said, okay?"

"I will."

_**  
6:42pm, Thursday – Slayer Base HQ**_

Giles awoke groggily from his bed. Though he was still a little tired, the nap was nevertheless reinvigorating. Desiring some tea before going back to sleep he walked toward the main kitchen to fix himself a cuppa. Though most of the rooms in the building had been fitted with small kitchenette areas, there were plenty that needed repairs. And it was decided that, for the sake of budget, priorities had to be made and the main kitchen in what was once a landlord's apartment would be renovated and expanded.

On the way down, he thought about what had happened in there just hours before. To say he was disappointed in the outcome wasn't doing his feelings justice. He had gone to sleep soon after Sara left. He had been weakened by his condition, but Sara's reaction to his declaration made him feel much worse, like he had been completely drained of all energy.

As he made his way to the kitchen he was brought out of his thoughts by the group in the lobby. Some Slayers had come, gone, and stayed while he slept. They had come by to wish him well but didn't want to disturb him, so they kept themselves busy talking about a myriad of things: new strategies for Amy, patrolling schedules, or just general topics. But when they saw the Watcher, all of the conversations stopped.

"Hey, Giles!" Rona said. "You feeling okay?"

"Yes," he replied. "Still a little tired, but feeling fine."

"Giles!" Michelle exclaimed. "Good to see you up and about."

"Good to see you too, Michelle," he replied.

Willow, however, wasn't happy to see the Watcher out of bed. "Which begs the question: why _are_ you up and about?" she asked.

"I wanted to fix myself some tea," he replied.

"Giles, we could have gotten that for you. You need rest."

"Willow, I'm perfectly capable of making tea. I just wanted to do it myself."

"Okay," she replied, "but you're going back to bed right after." She had her 'resolve face' on, which Giles knew he had a hard time fighting against.

"Will do."

It was only a few seconds later after he went to the kitchen that Sara entered through the front entrance. The lobby had gone from lively conversation to a brief silence. But this time Sara was the one who broke it, asking, "Where's Giles?"

"He's in the kitchen," Willow replied. "Why?" 

Sara didn't respond as she made a beeline for the kitchen. She stepped through the door only to see Giles filling up the teapot. He turned around in surprise.

"Sara... I didn't expect to see you anytime soon." Scrambling for something to say he went on. "Sara, I just wanted to say..."

"Shut up for a minute," she said. "Giles, we live very dangerous lives... and the last couple of days proved that. People in my life have been put at risk and people I know have died, sometimes because of the Witchblade. I've tried to keep the people I care about safe from the consequences. And when you got hurt, it scared me. I thought you'd be a casualty because of it."

Giles looked at Sara, the concern for him evident in her eyes. She continued.

"You're one of the few people who knows about the Witchblade that hasn't tried to control or manipulate me into doing what they want. You've been someone I could trust. And when you told me how you felt about me, I... well, it was something I wasn't prepared for. I thought about everything that could possibly happen to you because you felt that way, that someone would use you to get to me... or use my feelings for you to somehow hurt you. That'd scare me more than anything."

"Your... feelings?" Giles asked.

"You asked me if I felt the same way," Sara said as she walked closer to him.

"I know," he said. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

He had no time to complete his apology as he was caught by surprise… by Sara's own kiss. She willfully pressed her lips against his in a soft yet undeniably confident way, wrapping her arms gently around his neck. He had been taken aback by the sheer shock of it at first, but then relaxed as he accepted it more and more. For a moment, their lips locked in a slow dance, moving to a steady rhythm. A few seconds later, after pulling away, she slowly smiled at him.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Giles quipped.

Sara, ever mindful of things, started to ponder the future. Her fears crept back to the forefront and she had to admit she was more than little worried. They had defined their relationship in a new way now and the consequences would be unforeseen… and quite possibly dangerous. How would it affect them? How would it affect the girls? All of these questions raged and tugged in her mind, battling with her emotions.

"Giles," she said in a concerned tone, "what about the Witchblade? I mean… there's a lot to consider: our enemies, the complications..."

"I'm not worried about that right now," he replied.

"Giles, we have to figure out..."

"Sara," Giles interjected, "I'm not worried about any of that right now. Right now, there are no complications, no enemies, ... and no Witchblade."

Smiling at each other, they proceeded to kiss again, caught in the moment. Though only a few seconds, the emotions running through them were more powerful than anything they had ever felt before. It was as if time stopped just for them, to put them at this moment. They pulled away, Giles winded from his injury and the kiss but content all the same. They stared at each other and smiled, their foreheads touching and arms locked in an embrace.

"Giles?"

"Yes," he replied.

"I think we have an audience," she said while still looking at him.

"Yes… um, what?" he said in surprised tone. Looking toward the kitchen door entrance he saw everyone looking at the both of them intently and then loudly shout their approval.

"Alright, Giles!"

"Yeah, Pez!"

"Wooooo! Yeah!"

Willow saw the embrace and clapped in applause. Looking at Buffy, she said, "Isn't it great, Buffy?"

"Yeah… yeah, it's, um… great," the Slayer said. Willow hadn't paid attention to Buffy's response, though. Had she, she might have known that the head Slayer was more than little hesitant to celebrate the budding new romance.

"Oh, um, well, I uh…." Giles stammered.

"Yeah, um, I… uh, think I better get going," Sara said, feeling equally embarrassed. "You rest tonight. I'll stop by tomorrow night so we can, you know, um, talk."

"Y-y-yes, of course," he stuttered.

"Um, okay. Well, uh, see you, guys."

"See you, Pez," everyone said.

As she left, Giles decided it was time for more rest. "I think I'll retire for the rest of the evening. I'm rather worn out."

"You should be," Adrienne said. "After the lack of oxygen from that kiss…"

"Very funny," he replied as he made his way toward the elevator. Secretly, though, he found the remark amusing. And even he couldn't stop himself from bearing a wide smile at the prospect of a new relationship. It would be fraught with difficulty, for sure, but he knew all great things in life did. And deep down inside he felt, indeed he knew, that Sara would be one of those great things.


	12. Chapter XII

Thanks for all of the reviews and tuning in to my work. I'm glad you've stuck with it so far.

**Majin Gojira:** Thanks. I tried to avoid too many clichés in the romance; some just can't be avoided. However, there will be a few issues they'll face because of the nature of their jobs and their circumstances. Keep tuning in.

* * *

**_7:55 am, Friday - 11th Precinct__  
_**

Sara rode her bike to work the next morning, smiling beneath her helmet all the way. She was starting a new relationship, something she didn't think would happen in the near future. It was sudden, but going back over the past year in her mind all of the signs were there. She just hadn't caught. When she got to the precinct, she was still smiling and that smile was been evident to anyone who passed by, though no one said anything… except Cheryl, the clerk. As soon as she saw Sara's face, she just had to know what made the normally stone-faced cop so happy in the morning.

"Hey, Pez," she greeted. "What's with the smile?"

"What?" the cop said, broken out of her temporary euphoria.

"You're smiling," she reiterated.

"I've done it before."

"Rarely," Cheryl quipped. "Smiles are to you what romance is to my husband: passing strangers."

"Come on, I've…"

"Jake," she interrupted as the detective came by. Pez just came in with a big smile on her face."

"That's new, for a change," he replied.

"Don't you have work to do?" Sara asked, trying to get off of the subject.

"Don't try and change the subject," Cheryl replied. "So... who is he?"

"What?"

"Who is he?" she repeated.

"You automatically assume it's a guy, huh?" Sara asked. "It doesn't always have to be."

"But it usually is," she replied. "So…"

"Cheryl, I have a lot of work to do."

"And you seem to be avoiding the question," Cheryl said. "The sooner you tell, the sooner you can get back to work."

Sara hesitated to answer, but knew that she'd be bugged all day until she gave in. Letting out a sigh, she said, "His name is Rupert."

"Ha, I knew it!" Cheryl exclaimed.

"Rupert!" Jake shouted. "What, is this guy British or something?"

"As a matter of fact he _is_," Sara replied. "You got a problem with that?"

"Nope," Jake said, holding his hands up in mock surrender, "no problem." He walked off to go about his business. When he got out of Sara's view his face glazed over with disappointment: he had hoped that something would foster between he and Sara, but it looked like the immediate future held out nothing but the safe and least-wanted prospect of the 'just friends' scenario. _Figures_, he thought.

"Look, we're just starting out," Sara said. "We're not super-serious or anything. We still have a lot to consider."

"Still," Cheryl said, "if he can make you smile like that, he must be a keeper."

Danny overheard the talk made his way over to Sara and began to make conversation.

"I see you made up your mind."

"Yeah, I did. Thanks a lot, Danny. I know I'm not always the most... amicable person in the world, but your advice really helped me out. I owe you one."

"And be sure I'll collect one of these days." As she started to sit, Danny said, "Just one thing, though."

"Yeah?"

"Rupert?"

"Ha ha... very funny."

**_  
8:04 pm, Friday - Slayer Base HQ_**

Buffy had been personally attending to Giles and at the same time was trying to get back into her New York routine. She also went about the business of trying to find new informants ready to deal in street info on Amy. While she knew there were plenty of people willing to barter in the realm of information, whether or not they could find a credible one who was willing to talk about Amy was the challenge. She'd talked to a few people about other people to go to, but her attention was mostly on Giles' needs that day and making sure he made a full and health recovery. She'd picked a few items up while she was out and found Giles in his room quite anxious, trying to make the atmosphere nice for he and Sara to talk about whatever they planned on talking about.

"You all right, Giles?" Buffy said as she set down his teacup.

"I'm just a little anxious. Sara and I have a lot to talk about and I want to make sure we're both comfortable."

"Giles..." she said.

"Yes?"

Buffy wanted to say something, some comment about how she really felt about him and Sara together. But then she saw the look on his face; it was one of an anxious happiness, a loud calm, if there were such things, and she couldn't get the words out. Instead, she just said, "Everything's going to be fine."

"Thank you, Buffy."

**_  
9:16 pm, Friday - Slayer Base HQ_**

Sara had a full day of cases and interviews, but even with all of that she was focused on her meeting with Giles. She had come over when work was done and saw Buffy and a few others preparing for patrol or going out to chill on a Friday night. It was about 8:45 when she stepped through the doors. She and Giles had talked for about a half and hour about things, as Buffy counted the minutes. She didn't know any of the details and she knew she was likely never to know, but she started to speculate as to what they were. She _still_ hadn't told anyone about her feelings toward the new romance, since she didn't want to be the fly in the ointment or rain on Giles' parade; that would just make life around the building worse. It was when she saw Sara coming down the stairs that she was brought out of her thoughts.

"Hey, Sara," Buffy greeted as Sara walked down the steps.

"Hey, Buffy."

"Everything all right with Giles?"

"Yeah, we just had a good discussion about some things, seeing as how we've kind of entered a new phase in our relationship. We don't know what expect, especially because of Amy."

"I know what you mean," Buffy said. Indeed, she herself had wondered what new Amy would try once she learned about the relationship. That was one of the many reasons Buffy had reservations about it. But rather than try and get into yet another verbal brawl with the detective, she decided to shift to another topic. It was then she remembered the card left in Giles' hospital box. "Oh, I almost forgot something," she said as she pulled the card from her purse. "Here. Giles said the character was Japanese but he didn't know what it meant. He was hoping you'd..."

"Where'd you get this?" Sara asked in amazement.

"It was in Giles' chart box," Buffy replied. "Someone put it in there but he disappeared before I could get to him. Why? You recognize it?"

"Yeah, I do."

"You read Japanese?" the Slayer asked in disbelief.

"No," Sara replied, "but I know where it comes from. This is the personal insignia of Hideo Takagi, head of the New York _yakuza_."

"Yaku-what?"

"_Yakuza. _You don't know who the _yakuza_ are?" Sara asked in mild surprise.

"Enlighten me," Buffy replied.

"They're kind of like the Japanese version of the Mafia."

"Oh," Buffy said, stunned. As Sara walked toward the main office Buffy followed her. When she saw Sara pick up the phone, she quickly grabbed her hand. "Whoa, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm calling the number," Sara replied.

"You're calling the number of a crime boss? Why?" Buffy asked in a stern voice, as if it was the obvious thing _not_ to do.

"Buffy, if one of Takagi's guys left a card for us, that means he wants to talk."

"So what? That doesn't mean we should."

"Well, not everyone in the criminal underworld is happy with Amy's sudden rise to power. He might be able to give us some info on her."

"Or he might be working with her to take us out," Buffy replied.

"Look, I'm just going to call and see what he has to say, alright?"

"Fine, but _only_ that." Buffy released the grip on the woman's hand. Sara dialed the number and waited expectedly for someone to pick up. After a few rings, someone did.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, this is Sara Pezzini. Someone left a card for us in..."

"Ah, yes, detective," the man said. "Mr. Takagi has been expecting your call."

"Really?" Sara replied cautiously.

After a moment of silence, another man spoke. "Detective Pezzini?"

"Yes?"

"And I trust some of your associates are there as well, Ms. Summers perhaps?" he asked.

"Yeah, she's here," Sara replied.

Buffy, knowing they were talking about her, decided she wanted in on the conversation and pushed the button on the teleconference machine. "I'm here," she said aloud.

Sara, throwing Buffy a look, merely put down the phone. "What did you want to talk about?"

"About our mutual problem, detective," Takagi replied.

"And what problem would that be, sir?" Sara asked.

"You know what I mean, Detective Pezzini."

"Be that as it may, Mr. Takagi, what's the point?" she asked.

"I think my people will be able to help you solve this problem. I want to arrange a meeting with you and Ms. Summers to discuss matters."

"What makes you think...?" Buffy started to ask before Sara abruptly put her hand over her mouth.

"When and what time?" Sara asked. Buffy went wide-eyed and started to mumble underneath. Sara pressed her hand more. Buffy could have stopped her, but was taken aback by the sheer surprise of it all.

"Tomorrow at one o'clock," he replied. "There will be a cab waiting for you on 7th and Bleeker, outside of an ice cream parlor. It will take you to the location."

"7th and Bleeker, one in the afternoon. Got it." Buffy was visibly shocked at what Sara just said and waited for her to end the call.

"We'll see you then," Sara said. As she hung up her hand was still on Buffy's mouth. She was even more aware of that fact when the Slayer proceeded to bite the woman's pinky, lightly enough to not do any damage but hard enough to get her attention.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For making a deal for both of us to go see a known crime boss!" Buffy replied angrily.

"So you bit me for it?"

"I should have chomped the damn thing off. Are you absolutely insane? It could be a trap."

"I don't think it is," Sara said.

"And how would you know?"

"Instinct," Sara said pointedly.

"Oh, well, let's just go with that, huh? Sounds like a perfect reason to go meet with a criminal," she said sarcastically. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that if he has any information on Amy that could be useful, it'd be worth meeting with him," Sara replied. "Our informant backstabbed us and we're pretty much blind to whatever Amy's doing. Face it, Buffy: we're out of options."

Buffy sighed in frustration. She saw the cop's line of reasoning and reluctantly agreed with her assessment. Still, that didn't mean they could be careless. "I hope you're right about this," Buffy said. "I really do." She walked out of the office, leaving Sara alone in the room.

"Me too," Sara muttered to herself.

_**  
12:54 pm, Saturday - 7th & Bleeker**_

They were dressed professionally in business attire, Buffy in a matching gray slacks and jacket with a white blouse. She was adjusting it for the umpteenth time, ever since she and Sara were in the van to get to the meeting spot. Sara gave her black jacket and skirt a once over hand-brushing. They saw the cab in front of the ice cream shop and merely stared at it for a few moments. Kennedy and a few others had offered to follow the cab in the van, but Sara would have none of it. She wanted to be a non-confrontational as possible, and tailing a car wasn't being non-confrontational. She was more calm than Buffy was about the situation. It wasn't that Buffy was nervous; she was just a little more on edge about everything. She was trying to exercise caution, something Sara seemed to either not bother with or hide rather well. The Slayer turned to her and said, "I don't like this. I don't like this at all."

"Well, what _would_ you like?"

"Anything but this," Buffy replied.

"Let's just walk over there and try to get through this. Like I said, the sooner the better." They walked over to the cab and were surprised when the door opened for them. They stopped and stared for a moment. "After you," Buffy said, motioning for Sara to get in.

The cab journeyed through the city to house, past the city limits and into New Jersey. The driver hadn't said a word to them the whole time, making them both more than a little nervous. When they arrived at the location, they were outside of a small house surrounded by trees, out of the way of the other houses in the neighborhood. Exiting the cab, they were approached by a sharply-dressed man.

"Follow me, please," he said. The two women approached the house, the man in front of them. They approached the door, which he opened. Buffy and Sara stepped in slowly and were slightly taken in by the decor of the house. It was a delicate blend of both Japanese and Western styles, almost elegant. Sara saw the shoes sitting on a small wooden stand near the door and motioned to Buffy. Accordingly, they took off their shoes and placed them on the stand. The man closed the door behind them and, noticing the gesture, said, "Thank you."

He led them to a another part of the house and approached a sliding door. He opened it and motioned for them to go through. Upon entering the room, they saw a man, in his late 50's to early 60's approach them.

"Mr. Takagi," Sara said as she bowed, Buffy following suit.

The man bowed accordingly and said, "Detective Pezzini, Ms. Summers. Please, sit." He motioned over toward a table in the room. True to his heritage, it was Japanese-style and there were no chairs. They all sat at the table, both Buffy and Sara facing Takagi on the opposite side. "I didn't realize you had a house in Jersey," Sara said.

"Well, I use it when I need to get things done out of the way of prying eyes," he replied. "Some refreshment?" At once, ceramic cups were brought out and tea was poured into them. Buffy picked up the cup and was about to drink, but then stopped. She looked at her cup in suspicion.

"Ms. Summers," Takagi said as he observed her, "I would not bring you out here just to kill you with poison."

"You'll have to excuse me, sir, but we tend to get a lot of people ready and willing to get rid of us."

"I understand, Ms. Summers, but I am not one of those people. In fact, I'm quite the opposite; I want to help you."

"Pardon me for asking, but... why?" Sara said.

"You know as well I as do, Detective Pezzini, that there are plenty who want to be rid of Ms. Vitelli as soon as possible. She has disturbed the order of things and that cannot be tolerated."

"So why us, Mr. Takagi?" Buffy asked.

"We obtained information that Ms. Vitelli was particularly interested in a group of people located in New York City. We found out that someone had made it their personal quest to disrupt her operations. After some more research, we found out about your group."

"I see," Buffy replied.

"In my line of work you learn about things most aren't aware of, vampires and Slayers being two of them. When we found out how much Amy invested her agenda into you, we took note. Then we discovered her ambush plot."

"You knew about that?" Buffy asked in astonishment.

"Yes, we found out about it through various channels," Takagi replied.

"You knew and didn't tell anyone?" Buffy said, her voice slightly raised.

"We were in a very precarious position, Ms. Summers. If we alerted anyone to the ambush, Amy would have knowledge of the leak and sift out our informants. Besides, we had to know whether or not you and your group could actually fight against her. Surprisingly, your people survived the encounter."

"Barely," Sara muttered.

"But you survived. And that means you're capable of winning against her. "

"You seem pretty sure of that," Sara said.

"Amy isn't as strong as she pretends to be, Detective Pezzini. The only reason she's where she is now is because of subterfuge and brute force. She's a bright young woman, to be sure, but lacks what is necessary to keep things running in order. No one suspected that such a young woman would be capable of engineering a takeover like she did and it caught everyone off-guard. In addition, her alliance with dark forces has made our lives difficult. We try to avoid deals with vampires and demons and such; most are too unpredictable and many don't care to sully themselves by working with humans. One can only guess at how Amy's been utilizing them so effectively. However, she uses brutish methods to get things done, something that only works for so long."

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"I mean that Amy's days will end soon. She knows, as well as anyone else, that she can't sustain herself in the long haul."

"And why is that?" Sara asked. "Specifically?"

"Like I said, there is no doubt the young woman is smart and talented. Unfortunately, there are things in this business one can only know through years of experience. Her acts are of one who hasn't been taught the subtleties of leadership. She knows this, which also brings me to another disturbing question."

"Which is...?" Buffy asked.

"Why does someone who ascends so quickly to power not take precautions in securing it as much as possible?"

"She seems pretty secure from where we sit," Buffy replied.

"From where _you_ sit, Ms. Summers, but from my position the view is much clearer," Takagi said. "One thing she has utilized against you is Sun Tzu's principle of appearing strong while being weak. Your attacks on her supernatural associates have had an effect on her, in many respects, but her own worst enemy is herself. Ever since Genovese and his son died, profits have been down for her and her territories have been compromised. At first, it was attributed to a change in leadership, but then we noticed something odd, something that mostly everyone from the Triads to the Russians noticed: she hasn't been paying much attention to business details."

"You said she's inexperienced. Maybe she just sucks at it," Buffy offered.

"Or maybe there's another reason... and I think from Ms. Pezzini's expression she may be understanding my concern. Think about it: she lets business suffer while she tries to acquire something valuable to her, and at the same time tries to kill the people she believes would be capable of stopping her. Put it all together."

"Wait a minute," Sara said. "I remember Sean saying something the night of the ambush. It was something about Amy knowing the Scoobies had a tendency to mess up plans at the last minute and she didn't want that happening. She doesn't care about business because..."

"Because," Buffy interrupted, the realization coming to her as well, "she's focused on something else. And she wants us out of the way. She's planning something."

"Exactly," Takagi replied. "As to what, that is a mystery. But I have a feeling that whatever she's planning the consequences would be disastrous... for everyone. That is why I came to you."

"So what do you want?" Buffy asked.

"I propose a partnership of sorts, Ms. Summers," Takagi said, "one that would be beneficial to everyone involved."

"No offense, sir, but what makes you think we'd want a partnership with you?" Buffy asked.

"Because you have no other choice," he answered.

Buffy sat, silenced by his words. He was right, in some sense. The mere fact that they chose to meet with him spoke volumes of their limit of options.

"Besides, I'm the only one offering any deal," he continued. "I suppose you could try and go to the Russians. They hate her more than we do. Might I suggest you bring a towel, though. They're known to be quite brutal in their dealings if you don't tread carefully."

Sara inwardly winced at the idea. She knew exactly what Takagi meant. The Russians had made big inroads in the New York crime scene ever since the fall of the Soviet Union and there was one thing she quickly found out about them: they were _not_ to be toyed with. And making deals with them could mean slitting your own throat. If they could avoid doing so, all the better.

"Here's the deal: we will supply you with as much information as we can on Ms. Vitelli, everything from business dealings to strategies. We'll pass along as much as we can in the oncoming months."

"And what do you want in return?" Buffy asked. "And I hope it's something we can live with."

"Simple," Takagi replied. "You take care of Amy."

"That's it?" Buffy asked. "You're giving us information provided we do exactly what we've been planning for the last year? I don't get it."

"The mere satisfaction of Amy's demise is enough," Takagi said.

"As well as knowing the exact moment she's put out of commission, before the other bosses," Sara offered. Takagi smiled at that.

Buffy started to follow Sara's line of reasoning and then it clicked. "Oh, I see," Buffy said. "Once Amy's out of the picture, you'll be poised and ready to grab what you can in the confusion. And probably with little resistance."

"Very astute, the both of you."

Buffy looked at Sara and thought about the idea. They were indeed running out of options. And if Takagi was right, Amy was planning something huge. If they couldn't stop it, there was no telling what could happen. Looking at the detective's eyes, she knew they were in agreement of what had to be done and finally spoke. "Alright," Buffy said. "But I have a two conditions."

"And they are...?"

"One, you supply info and that's it. I want absolutely no interference in our operations. We take the intel and plan accordingly without your help."

"Deal. And what is the other condition?" Takagi asked.

"Condition two: after Amy's dealt with, we terminate this partnership. We go our separate ways; no holdovers and no side deals."

After a brief pause Takagi said, "I don't think we'll have a problem with that. But I also have a condition."

"What is it?" Buffy asked.

"I want no interference in our operations," he replied. 

"I have no problem with that," Buffy said.

"But Detective Pezzini might."

Sara thought for a moment and said, "I'm Homicide, not OCD. So unless you guys start racking up dead bodies, I don't foresee a problem. Besides, I'm sure you've got plenty of guys just waiting to take the rap if you do."

Hideo smiled at the quip. He reached over to his cup and lifted it. "Let us drink to our partnership. May it be mutually beneficial and, most of all, brief." Buffy and Sara lifted their cups and they all drank to seal the deal. They then all stood up. "Yoshikata will see you out," he said.

"Good day, Mr. Takagi," Sara said as she bowed, Buffy again following suit.

"Likewise," he replied as he bowed in return. The attendant walked them both out to the waiting cab, ready to take them back to their pick-up spot. Sara and Buffy sat silent all the way. Once they had arrived at their destination, they got out. They were supposed to call base as soon as they made it back, but Buffy hadn't taken out her cell phone yet. She walked over to the edge of a nearby alley and leaned against a brick wall.

"Is it just me, or do you feel really disturbed about what just happened? I mean, I can't believe we just did that," she said.

"Me neither," Sara replied.

"You know, when I made a deal with Spike to stop Angelus, it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. But this... this just makes me sick."

"I know how you feel," Sara said, feeling the exact same way.

"Things used to be simpler, you know: gather info, beat the Big Bad, and go home. Sure it was more complicated at times, but not like this. Never like this. Now I'm held back by every law that says I can't just go in there and beat Amy to a bloody pulp. Now I'm dressed in a suit making deals with people who should be in jail to get rid of other people who should be in jail."

Sara merely stared off into the street, at all of the passerbys going to and fro. Not bothering to look at Buffy, soberly she said, "Welcome to my world."

Buffy briefly stood silent at the comment. Brushing aside what she felt she said, "Well, let's just hope both of our worlds don't have any more surprises waiting for us. I don't think I can take it."

"You and me both, Buffy. You and me both."

Little did they know that indeed a surprise awaited them in the oncoming days, one that would rock the very foundations of their world and drastically change the playing field. Things had been set in motion that were too far gone to be stopped. And it all started with a plan, a daring plan, one devised by a vampire with a soul residing in Los Angeles...


	13. Chapter XIII

Once again, thanks for the reviews.

* * *

_**4:40 am, Wednesday – Slayer Base HQ**_

Buffy lay in her bed, her eyes unable to close. There was nothing in particular that kept her up; she just couldn't go to sleep for some odd reason. Getting out of bed, she decided she'd get a glass of warm milk to help her sleep, as it always seemed to work before when she was a kid. Journeying downstairs she noticed there were noises coming from the lobby area, something the sounded like the TV was on. Walking closer she saw that it indeed was. Seeing a figure on the couch she stepped closer and closer to see whom it was. She relaxed when she saw it was Adrienne. Apparently, the girl had the same problem.

"Adrienne?" she asked.

"Buffy," she replied, slightly startled. "Hey. Sorry, I couldn't sleep. Thought I'd come down and watch a late night sci-fi flick."

"Well, I couldn't sleep either. I was going to warm some milk up. Hopefully it'll help."

"You had trouble sleeping too?" she asked. "Wow, that makes three of us."

"Three?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah," the girl replied. "Willow's down here too. Apparently she couldn't sleep either."

"Hey, Buffy," Willow said, coming from the kitchen carrying a glass of water.

"Willow," Buffy said. "You couldn't sleep either?"

"No," she replied. "I came downstairs to get a drink of water."

"Isn't the water working in your room?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, it is," she answered. "But I needed to walk around a bit. Plus, Kennedy isn't the lightest sleeper in the world. Why are you up?"

"I think my bed is too uncomfortable. Three months in Italy and all of a sudden I'm a softy. Wait, why are _you_ up?"

Buffy noticed that her best friend was looking a little disturbed, like something was on her mind. "Willow, is everything alright?"

"I couldn't sleep because I was feeling... weird."

"What do you mean by 'weird'?" Buffy asked cautiously.

"I mean, like something was off, like something… busted out. It made my flesh crawl. It's _still_ making my flesh crawl."

"Is it local?" Buffy asked.

"No," Willow replied. "It's far off. I mean, it's not halfway around the world far off, but it's not here. I just have a feeling something really bad happened... and I mean really bad."

It was at that moment the office phone rang. Buffy didn't want to answer it yet; she wanted to attend to her friend. But she knew if someone was calling at this hour, it must have been important. Walking into the office she grabbed the cordless phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Buffy? It's Julia, out in LA."

"Julia? What's up? It's five in the morning here."

"We've got a situation," Julia said.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, her tone deeply serious.

"Me and the girls have been fighting all night. We went out on patrol and all of sudden got bombarded with baddies."

"Is it an attack?" Buffy asked anxiously.

"That's the thing," Julia said. "It doesn't seem like a coordinated strike. It's like every creepy crawly just came out of the woodwork and started getting antsy. We're holding off as much as we can but it's tough. I had to call you on my cell since the power is out on a couple of blocks. We're still trying to figure out what happened."

"Alright," Buffy said, "just do what you can and report back to me. Get your people back to base when things die down."

"Will do," Julia replied.

Buffy turned off the phone and pondered things. She had no clue what was going on, but a couple of guesses entered her head. The number one guess was Wolfram & Hart, but Julia said there wasn't really an attack on the Slayers themselves. _Okay... just what is going on out there?_" she thought. She was brought out of her thoughts by the local news brief interrupting Adrienne's movie.

"… In Los Angeles, an office building belonging to the law firm of Wolfram & Hart has collapsed. Police, fire, and rescue crews are on the site of the collapse investigating and looking for any survivors. More details to come on your seven a.m. news. In Seattle..."

All three women were stunned into a brief silence, until Willow turned and worryingly said, "Buffy..."

"Adrienne…" Buffy said, "ring the alarm."

"Right," the young woman replied, anxiety etched on her face. She went over to the wall, lifted up the plastic guard, and pressed the red alarm button. As soon as she did, the klaxons in the building went off.

Walking into the office Buffy closed the door and dialed Sara's number. They would need everyone they could get on the matter. If Wolfram & Hart were making a move, everyone would have to be on their game and ready.

The phone rang as she waited.

* * *

Sara lay asleep on her couch, which had been substituting as a bed for the last week or so. She was snoring lightly and peacefully when her cell phone rang. Her eyes closed, she waved her hand around to feel for it. Once she found it, she grabbed it and spoke groggily into it. 

"Hello?" she said monotonically.

"Sara," Buffy said.

"Buffy? It's…" she said as looked at the clock, "five in the morning. Please tell me you have a good reason for waking me up at five in the morning."

"I do," Buffy replied. "It's Wolfram & Hart."

"Yeah? What about them?" Sara asked, her tone still uninterested.

"The LA office just collapsed."

"What?" the cop replied in a surprised voice. She was wide awake now.

"The LA branch just collapsed. I'm calling an emergency meeting. I'll put you on conference call." Buffy pressed the button just as the residents in the building gathered near the office.

"Buffy, what's going on?" Kennedy asked. "What's the emergency?"

"Are we under attack?" Rona inquired.

"Everyone listen up," Buffy started. "I just got some disturbing news. Wolfram & Hart's LA office just collapsed."

"Oh, good…" Giles started to say.

"You've got to be…" Kennedy muttered.

"When did this…?" Rona asked.

"Everyone, we need to stay calm," Buffy said as she motioned with her hands. "Right now we're on high alert. Get the word to every Slayer in the city; wake 'em up if you have to. Tell them what's going on." She turned to Willow. "Willow, I need you to get a message to every Slayer around the world. Tell them the status of things." Willow nodded her head. Buffy then spoke aloud to the conferencing system. "Sara?"

"I hear you," she replied.

"We're going to need info on whatever happened out there and why that building collapsed," Buffy said. "Think you can get something from the cops in LA?"

"I can try," Sara said. "But chances are it'll be a couple of days before they have any definitive info. And if that law firm is as bad as you guys say, they'll stonewall the investigation. Once that happens, we're on our own."

"Well, get what you can," Buffy replied. "Let's be careful out there, guys. Patrols stay tight and in groups of three. If things happen, fall back to base. You all know your assignments. Get to it."

As everyone started to disperse, Giles and Kennedy walked up to Buffy, the concern evident on his face. "What do you think happened?" she asked.

"I don't know, Kennedy," she replied, "but whatever it is we need to be prepared."

"What's your plan in case Wolfram & Hart attack?" asked Giles.

Buffy just looked at him silently, the worry in her eyes clear to him; no reply was necessary.

**_8:03 am, Wednesday - 11th Precinct_**

The 11th Precinct was busy as normal. Sara had arrived bright and early, intent on discreetly getting info throughout the day from the police out in LA. But she knew she would have to wait until the near the end of the workday to get what she wanted. Not only was there the time difference, but she knew that any data on a building that collapsed less than twenty-four hours ago would be scant. But she saw Buffy's reasoning in requesting her assistance; if they could get even a tiny bit of information on why the building went down, they'd be able to determine early on whether or not the incident posed an immediate threat. And that was worth any effort.

_**  
5:34 pm, Wednesday – Johnny Red's Bar & Grille**_

The bar teemed with patrons, those deciding to have a few drinks after the busy workday. It was slightly hectic, but manageable. Buffy had stepped in and eyed Willy at the bar. He had stopped being an informant as he thought it better for his health, no doubt because of Amy. Buffy realized she had lost a valuable source of info, but was eased by the fact that New York was way bigger than Sunnydale and they could find an informant if they wanted to. It was just a question of time. Still, she had a feeling the bartender didn't completely give up on the info business and approached him in her usual manner.

"What's up, Willy?"

"Buffy! Hey, I told you I don't do that stuff anymore, especially if that Amy chick's involved."

"Oh, come on, you know as well as I do you couldn't stay out of the game if you tried," she said.

"Maybe, but I know who you're after and I not tryin' to cross her."

"Lucky for you, it's not about her," Buffy said. "I want to know about what happened out in LA."

"What happened out in LA?" he asked.

"Willy…"

"Alright, alright. Look, nobody's told me anything about it."

"You've got nothing, nothing at all?"

"Didn't say that. Just said nobody's been telling," he said.

"Okay, so what do you know?" she asked.

"Look around the bar, kid."

Buffy did so and saw all the patrons in the bar, nothing out of the ordinary. She turned back to Willy. "What? All I see is a bunch of people drinking and eating after work."

"It's what you don't see that matters."

"What're you getting at?" she asked.

"Every Wednesday a couple of Wolfram & Hart regulars come in here and throw down a few drinks, maybe grab a bite to eat; a group of lawyers here and there, a few secretaries. You should try the potato skins. They got the cheese all nice and melted with the..."

"Willy!" Buffy yelled, trying to get him back on track.

"Right,'" he said. "Anyway, like I said, a couple of regulars from the firm show up on Wednesdays. But today, nobody's come by from there. And here's the kicker: about a half-hour ago, somebody came by from there for a pick-up order for thirty sandwich specials. The most we ever get from them is ten for the late-working crowd."

Buffy began to see what Willy saw and started to put the clues together. "They're scrambling," she said.

"Seems like whatever went down in LA's got them puttin' in a whole lot of overtime," he said.

Buffy pondered this new information for a moment. If it was true, that meant that something happened that put them on edge. While it still didn't mean she and hers were in the clear, it did open up the possibility that Wolfram & Hart would be too busy to care about them. "Thanks, Willy."

"Just don't be comin' around too often. Still got my health and I plan to keep it that way."

**_  
6:30 pm, Wednesday – 11th Precinct_**

"Detective Singer speaking…"

"This is Detective Pezzini, 11th Precinct, out of NYC," Sara said.

"New York?" he replied quizzically. Brushing aside the oddity of the situation he asked, "Well, what can I do for you, detective?"

"The Wolfram & Hart building that collapsed. I wanted to know any guesses you guys had on the cause."

"Well, it's been less than twenty-four hours; there's nothing much to tell. And even if there was, we're not releasing that info yet."

_And you probably won't, once Wolfram & Hart tell you to back off_, Sara thought. From her conversations with Giles and Buffy, she had a pretty good impression of the company. She had no doubt the firm would forestall a thorough investigation, offer up some lame excuse for the collapse, and end the whole affair, thus leaving the hard work of dredging up info to people like her and the Scoobies. "Not even to a fellow cop?" she asked.

"What's New York's interest in this anyway?" he inquired.

Sara paused. "NYPD doesn't have an interest in this."

"I see," he replied, understanding things. "Sorry, detective, I can't help you out there."

"Hmm..." Sara replied. "You married, Detective Singer?"

"Yes," he replied cautiously, "and quite happily. With two kids."

"Good. Ever think about taking the wife out to New York?"

"It's crossed my mind. Why?"

"Well, I was just thinking that it might be nice to take her out to see a Broadway play, box seats," Sara replied.

"Really…?" he said.

"Yep. You might find yourself having two tickets on hand, given some circumstances."

"Huh…" he muttered.

"Come on, from one cop to another," she said.

Thinking about the offer for a moment he decided that it wouldn't really do any harm if she knew some of the info and acquiesced. "Alright… I'll bite."

"Cool, so what do you know?"

"Well, we don't have much but some speculations and a few eyewitness reports."

"Give me what you can," she replied.

"The damage pattern doesn't seem consistent with any explosive device, but it could have been detonated underground. We're checking that."

"What about the eyewitnesses?" Sara asked.

"A few people in the area said they didn't hear any explosion. At first they thought it was an earthquake, but nothing else in the area seemed to be taking any damage. One eyewitness also said he saw someone running from the area near the collapse, a male in his late teens to early 20's from what he could gather; medium-build, long-haired. He also said the guy looked pretty beat up. That's about it so far."

Sara busied herself writing down the scant information. It wasn't much, but it would have to do for now. "Okay," she said. "Thanks for the info, detective."

"No problem," he replied. "Oh, and uh, the wife has been wanting to see a musical for some time now."

Chuckling, Sara said, "You got it. Take care, detective." Hanging up she wasn't too sure any of the info was of any use. If there wasn't an explosion, and that was a big 'if' considering the investigation was pending, then that left one of three possibilities: Angel and his crew took down the place, a new enemy did, or Wolfram & Hart's head honchos did it themselves. The second possibility didn't scare her too much; if Wolfram & Hart had a new enemy, hopefully they'd be potential allies or too preoccupied with dismantling the firm to bother with the Slayers.

It was the first and third possibility that gave her the creeps. If Angel and his people brought the place down, Wolfram & Hart might come after them thinking they were in cahoots. And if the firm brought the place down themselves, Angel might have pissed them off enough to do it and that still meant she and the Scoobies could be fair game to them. The idea of fighting both Amy _and_ Wolfram & Hart wasn't something she wanted to entertain.

Then there was still the matter of the injured. young man leaving the site of the collapse. _Did he have something to do with it?_, she thought. All and all, that still left many pieces of a puzzle that needed to be put together.

"And so the plot thickens…" she muttered to herself.

_**  
11:00 pm, Friday – Slayer Base HQ**_

The night had been particularly rainy in the city. Nearly seventy-two hours had passed since first hearing of the incident, and the Scoobies were no closer to figuring out the cause than they were before. The lobby was scrambling with people going to and fro. Some of the Slayers had come back from their patrols in the groups of three that Buffy ordered. Patrolling times were cut to ensure no one was out too long to be ambushed. It made things a little less efficient, but they didn't want to be caught unawares.

In the main office, Buffy, Willow, Kennedy, Giles, and Sara talked about what information had been gathered since the collapse and to figure out new contingencies. Everyone had been putting in massive hours of foot and book work to get info and now they were assessing their progress. Which, to date, had not been much.

"So, what do we know?" Buffy asked.

Sara stood and picked up her notepad and began to summarize the bits and pieces of the puzzle. "Okay, so we have some big incident happening late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. Eyewitness reports say no one heard any explosion. One eyewitness also says he saw what looked to be a male in his late teens/early 20's, long-haired, medium-build, running from the site in pretty bad shape. Soon after the building collapsed the LA Slayers had vampires and demons bombard their patrols. Subsequent patrols found the usual vampire haunts seemingly abandoned. That's about it."

Willow thought about the young man running from the site. He had been on her mind since Sara mentioned him. The description could have been said of any number of people in LA but she kept thinking about anyone who would have been associated with Angel or Wolfram & Hart. Someone in the back of her mind kept popping up but he was too vague. _I guess I'll worry about it later_, she thought.

"Alright, that's about as much as we have right now," Buffy said. "Let's keep working at it for awhile to see if we can dig up anything else."

"Buffy," Sara said, "don't you think we should be focusing elsewhere, like the stone Amy bought from Post?"

"I know, but I want to make sure we aren't being lined up for an attack."

"Look, Buffy, I know this is a bit… personal for you…"

"I'm not taking this personally," Buffy interrupted defensively.

"Maybe… and maybe not," Sara replied, trying to be diplomatic. "But Wolfram & Hart hasn't made a move against us since the collapse and Amy's got a big head start. I know you want to be cautious with Wolfram & Hart, but let's make sure we're not losing focus."

Buffy heard the cop's words; she knew Sara was right, in some respects. Amy had a big head start on them in the planning department and they were still in the dark about the details. Buffy also knew she'd be lying if she said that a lot of this case wasn't personal. She had fought internally to keep her personal feelings in check about the matter, but at times she faltered. On this, though, she was trying to be as rational and thorough as possible. Seeing everyone's looks and knowing they were coming to the same conclusion as Sara, she spoke.

"Okay, I know you guys are tired and you want to get back to whatever Amy's doing," Buffy said. "I do too. Look, just give it one more day and that's it. If we haven't found anything, we'll just close the case up for another day."

Looking at each other for a few moments, the group nodded and consented to Buffy's request. As soon as Buffy started to speak to give out the new assignments, three loud knocks came from the front door.

"Okay," she said, "so I'll make some more calls out to LA and see what Julia and the others have come up with..."

The three knocks came again.

Buffy continued. "Willow, see if you can find any mystics who may know what happened. Check the web for any chats or sites that might be talking about it. They may know something we don't…"

The three knocks came again.

"Sara, talk to the police again. I know Wolfram & Hart arranged for their own investigators to work it, but see if any cops'll talk about what they found out..."

The three knocks came once again.

Buffy opened the office door. "And will somebody please bother to answer the door!" she yelled out, greatly annoyed.

"Alright, alright," Ling replied. She walked toward the reinforced door to answer it, the person on the other side still knocking in sets of three. "I'm coming, I'm coming," she said in a frustrated voice. She was a little pissed that the person seemed to be getting impatient. She began to mutter under her breath as she started to open the door. "Man, person's gonna keep knocking 'til they're blue in the…"

She finally opened the door and was surprised by the sight of the person in front of her.

"…face," Ling finished in a hushed and surprised tone.

The woman was wrapped in a cloak and drenched with rain; she had a petite figure, though the cloak hid it well. Still, it wasn't surprising that a person knocking on particularly rainy evening in New York was drenched from head to toe. No, the surprising part of the woman was her face; unless her eyes were playing tricks with her, Ling could have sworn it was sporting a blue forehead.

"I wish to speak to Buffy Summers," the woman said in a commanding tone, snapping Ling out her bewildered state.

Still looking at her wide-eyed, Ling yelled toward the office. "Buffy… it's for you!"

Buffy walked toward the entrance, the rest of the gang in tow. "Ling, who is…?" she started to ask as she got closer to the door, only to become quiet when she saw the figure standing at the threshold.

"You are Buffy Summers?" the woman asked.

"Yeah…" Buffy replied cautiously. "who wants to know?"

Lifting her head up more for all to see, the woman stood as dignified as she could in the pouring rain.

"I am Illyria."


	14. Chapter XIV

**To my readers: **Once again, thanks for tuning in.

**Darklight:** I'm going to have Illyria do what I think she'd do in the situation given. Based on how she acted on 'Angel', I think my choice for her is a valid action. Hope you'll like it.

_On to Chapter XIV of 'Urbs Spei'. Enjoy..._

**

* * *

**"Shall I come in, or do you intend to keep me out in the rain?" Illyria asked.

"That depends," Buffy said. "Are you friend or foe?"

"I am beyond your petty designations," she responded brusquely.

Buffy just looked at her quizzically.

"However, I do not wish you and your people harm."

"Alright," Buffy said, "come in." She kept both eyes on the figure. If this was a trap of some sort, she wanted to be ready.

As Illyria stepped in, Willow got a closer look at her and immediately recognized the woman. "Fred?"

"What?" Buffy asked, somewhat confused.

"Is that you?"

"Wait," Buffy said. "Willow, what are you talking about?"

"She looks like Fred, from Angel's crew."

"You mean my shell," Illyria replied.

"Your… _shell_?" said Buffy.

"Yes, the one I inhabit; the one you call Winifred Burkle."

"So… what happened to Fred?" Buffy asked.

Illyria just looked at Buffy for a moment and said, "She is gone." Though no one noticed it, Giles became a bit flustered at the comment.

"How?" Buffy asked, having a feeling deep down inside that she wasn't going to like the answer.

"I overtook her body and she ceased to exist."

The Slayer stared at the woman and said, "Okay, when I said 'friend or foe', I meant 'friend' as in those who don't go around invading peoples' bodies and killing them! Explain to me why I shouldn't toss you out right now."

"Wait," Willow interjected, "you know about what went down in LA, don't you?"

"Yes," Illyria replied.

"You just bought yourself some time," Buffy said. "We've been trying to figure out what happened out there."

Illyria walked into the lobby of the building sat down on the couch. Giles went to the kitchen and fetched a cup of tea for their guest; that was the polite gesture. He didn't know, however, if she would take it or even require it. Mostly, he went to get it to be out of the room with her for even a fraction of a moment. He knew about Illyria's existence when Angel called for Willow's help. Aside from her being on the astral plane at the time, he had adamantly refused to help them. It wasn't that he hated them; he just thought that if Wolfram & Hart were baiting him and the Slayers at a moment when Amy required their attention, the consequences could have been dire. But the fact that he didn't help them wasn't the biggest problem. What _was_ the biggest issue was that he had conveniently 'neglected' to mention the call to anyone else. He went back into the lobby and gave the cup to their new guest, who eyed it curiously in her hand.

"So tell us: what happened in LA?" Buffy asked.

"Angel confronted the Wolf, Ram, & Hart," she replied.

"Details, Illyria," Buffy said. "I want details."

Illyria looked at Giles in curiosity. "You mannerisms are familiar."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"And you sound like him as well," she continued.

"Who?"

"Wesley," Illyria replied. "Who are you?"

Giles paused and took a deep breath, his tank helping him. His breathing became slightly accelerated. "Rupert Giles."

"Giles?" she said. "Yes, Wesley spoke to me of you. He said you were trained as a Watcher as well."

"Yes, I was."

"He also told me that he understood your reluctance to help my shell and that he did not blame you for her death."

"Giles, what is she talking about?" Buffy asked.

Giles looked at Illyria; his breathing elevated even more. He knew what was going to come out and knew some wouldn't take his actions quite well. "Angel… called a few months ago, asking for Willow's help."

"What?" Willow said.

"Ms. Burkle had been infected by an entity and was being killed by it," Giles reluctantly elaborated. "Angel was hoping to solicit Willow's help in trying to restore her soul."

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Willow asked, clearly angry with him.

"You were on the astral plane at the time," Giles replied. "In any event, I refused to help them, because they were still at Wolfram & Hart."

"Giles, we know these people," Willow said in their defense. "I mean, yes, working for Wolfram & Hart brings up trust issues, but they came to us for help. I can't believe you'd do that to them"

"You didn't tell _anyone _about this?" Buffy asked.

"Because I didn't know if Wolfram & Hart were baiting us into a trap. With everything going on now, I didn't want to take the risk that we were being deceived."

Willow could barely say anymore. The anger was apparent on her face. She was more than upset with Giles for what he did, especially to Fred. The young scientist was so nice and Willow felt she deserved better than what she got, especially by people who made it their business to help those in trouble.

Buffy took note of everything and decided to continue on. Though she was unhappy with Giles' choice of action, she nevertheless felt that it could be addressed later. "Illyria," she said, "tell us what happened in LA."

"Very well. Weeks ago, Angel had been behaving quite erratically. I took little interest in it but his subordinates did. He had acquiesced to the desires of many of the Wolf, Ram, & Hart's patrons. It was believed he no longer cared fighting for the so-called 'good'. His people confronted him. It was then that they learned his behavior was all a ruse."

"A ruse?" Buffy asked.

"Angel had infiltrated the Circle of the Black Thorn, agents of the Senior Partners. He had gained their confidence and planned to destroy them. He requested help in doing so. I was attacked by the Wolf, Ram, & Hart's minion and offered my assistance in obliterating the Circle."

"What happened after that?" Willow asked.

"We were all given our assignments and told to gather in an alley when we completed them. Most arrived; some did not… like my Qwa'Ha'Xahn." The statement fell from Illyria's lips in sorrow.

"Your who?" Buffy asked.

"My Qwa'Ha'Xahn, my guide: Wesley."

"What?" Giles said.

"He died in my arms," she continued sadly.

There was a stunned silence among the group who knew the man, especially from Willow and Giles. Willow herself was on the verge of tears.

"Angel knew the Senior Partners would bring their wrath upon us," Illyria continued. "We gathered in the alley to face their hordes: myself, Angel, the dark one called Gunn, and the silver-haired one called Spike."

"Spike?" Buffy said, astonished.

"Yes. He joined in our fight."

"Spike!" she yelled out. Brushing aside the revelation of Spike's return, Buffy gathered herself and merely said, "I'm sorry… continue."

"The hordes came and we fought valiantly. My hands brought death to many of the fiends. But we knew our fight would not last long. Gunn fell from his wounds. I did not see the fate of Angel or Spike."

"How did you escape?" Buffy asked in a low and menacing tone. Her temper was growing; Illyria had escaped while Angel, Spike, and Gunn didn't. She wanted to know why.

"I was violently knocked through a wall and too injured to carry on effectively. There was a passage nearby that led underground and I journeyed through. When I came to the surface, I decided to make my way here to you, through what you humans call a 'train'. I was told of your exploits and came here to find you."

"So…" Buffy started to say, her temper growing ever more, "you deserted them."

"What?"

"You deserted them when they needed you and you left them to die," Buffy replied, her tone accusatory.

"I made a strategic decision," Illyria responded defensively.

"Still sounds like desertion to me."

"I wanted to continue the battle against the Wolf, Ram, & Hart in my own way, and I could not do that by myself. That is why I came here."

"What do you mean by that?" Buffy asked Illyria.

Standing up Illyria carefully eyed the Slayers that were present, looking them over as if she were inspecting them. "Your warriors look crude, but with adequate training they might prove most formidable." The girls looked at Buffy with surprised and questioning looks on their faces.

"Whoa, hold on there!" Buffy exclaimed. "You are _not_ about to take these girls on your little vendetta against Wolfram & Hart!"

"What?" Illyria replied.

"What part didn't you get?" Buffy asked rhetorically. "You are not going against Wolfram & Hart with these girls!"

"How can you say that? I was told of the vampires' affections for you and how much you cared about them. Do they not mean anything to you?"

"They do," Buffy replied, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to take on that law firm!"

"Their actions must not be countenanced," Illyria said abruptly. "They will suffer for their insult and I will bring them that suffering. I must have vengeance; Wesley's death must be avenged."

"But not with these girls' lives," Buffy protested firmly.

"Do you not understand? I must abate my grief," Illyria replied in a painful voice, the emotions pouring out of her. "It overwhelms me to my very core! It sears me and permeates throughout, racking this weak husk. Don't you see? I must be rid of it; I have to make the pain go away!"

"You can't!" Buffy yelled, visibly shaken. "You can't, Illyria. There is _nothing_ you can do to make the pain go away. It'll always be there. And no matter how many monsters you kill or how many fiends you destroy to even the score, it'll never go away... ever."

Illyria's temper flared, but she started to settle down after Buffy's words. Solemnly, she asked, "How do you humans deal with these… feelings?"

"With time," Buffy replied. "The pain will get better in time. That's all I can promise you."

Sara had been seated in a chair the entire time, shocked at what she heard. She was amazed at the courage of Angel and his crew, to fight against something they knew would outlast them. But a worrisome thought soon made her feelings of admiration subside.

"Excuse me," she said, "but can we all meet in the office for a minute?"

Willow, Rona, Kennedy, Giles, Buffy, Sara, and Monica went into office. Closing the door behind them and turning the blinds, Sara quickly said, "We need to get rid of her. Now."

"What?" Willow exclaimed.

"We need to get her out of here right now."

"Well, that's considerate," Willow replied sarcastically.

"Hey," Sara snapped, "were you in the same room as me? 'Cause from what I heard Buffy's ex and his pals just took on Wolfram & Hart. And that means Illyria's on their 'Most Wanted' list. We need to toss her out _now_."

"You can't just do that," Willow protested. "She came to us for help."

"She came to us for soldiers in her personal vendetta," Sara retorted.

"Okay, so that part's bad," Willow conceded. "But that doesn't mean we should toss her out there. She's a sitting duck if we do."

"_We're_ sitting ducks if we don't!" Sara yelled. Turning to Buffy she said, "Buffy, if we keep her here, Wolfram & Hart will have an excuse to attack us. We can't go against them _and_ Amy."

"Buffy, we can't just leave her out there to get slaughtered," Willow countered. "We don't do that."

Buffy leaned against a wall of the office. Her mind had drifted for a moment during Sara and Willow dispute. She began to think about how she had never imagined herself in this position, meeting in a plush office discussing strategy. The only reason any of them were able to do so now was because the game had changed. It had changed so much that it transformed the nature of how they worked and thought. And now that Wolfram & Hart had been dealt a serious blow, not only to their physical self but to their ego, the game had changed once again.

She was contemplative as Illyria's fate hung in the balance. Buffy saw both Sara's point and Willow's point. The trouble was that they both had a good amount of merit. She loathed this position; she didn't want to take sides against her best friend and she didn't want to get into a shouting match with Sara that would leave her with a headache later on. Still, a decision had to be made regarding Illyria. And from the escalating argument between Sara and Willow she knew it would have to be soon. The two rarely fought since they met, maybe three times, but when they did it was best to steer clear.

"Come on, Willow," Sara said. "You know as well as I do Wolfram & Hart will stomp us if they find her here!"

"They might think twice if we're involved. Maybe they won't want to pick a fight with us if we put her under our protection."

"And that's a huge big 'maybe', Willow," Sara replied.

"So, we just toss her out on the street?" Willow asked rhetorically. "You're a cop; how could you even consider that?"

"I'm being practical! We can't take on Amy and that law firm!"

"And I just don't think it's right we hang someone out to dry," Willow said, "especially if they might be allies!"

"Well, from what I heard, Illyria sounds like she's on her own side," Sara replied.

"Why don't we take a vote on it?" Rona interjected. "I'm with Pez on this one; Illyria's too much of a liability."

Kennedy spoke up next. "As much as I think it might be a bad idea, leaving her out on the street to get picked off isn't something we do. I say she stays. Maybe she could even help us with Amy."

"I say she goes," Monica said. "If Wolfram & Hart get wind of her here, there's no telling what could happen."

Everyone looked at Giles and Buffy. The vote so far was 3-2 in favor of Sara's decision. Since Sara wasn't an official part of The Watchers' Council, she normally wouldn't have had a vote. It was decided, however, that if any decision had to do with New York and the surrounding area, she would have voting powers on the matter.

Giles was the first to speak up. He looked at Sara and Sara looked back into his eyes and knew right then and there that things were not about to go in her favor. She knew how he was going to vote and said, "Giles…"

"I'm sorry, Sara," he replied, "but I just don't feel right leaving her to die."

"Yeah, but leaving Fred to die was just peachy keen," Willow snapped. Everyone slightly winced at her words. Giles didn't reply; he knew he deserved that.

Dejected, Sara looked at Buffy. Indeed, everyone looked at Buffy. The vote was split 3-3 and she was the deciding factor. Sara knew they tended to be at each others' throats, but felt that even the head Slayer saw the merit in steering clear of Wolfram & Hart's radar. And to her, Illyria was just a big blip on the screen. "Buffy," she said in an attempt to persuade her, "you know I'm right. We'll be in Wolfram & Hart's sights if we keep her here."

Buffy finally decided to speak. "We're already in their sights, Sara. They probably looked our way the moment Angel did what he did. I'm not too thrilled about having her here, but I just don't feel good about tossing her out. We might as well kill her ourselves if we did that. I vote that she stays. And maybe she _could _help us out, you know, while she's here."

"I can't believe this. I can't believe we're doing this," Sara said. "Fine, but we're making a big mistake taking her in; a _big _mistake. Don't say I didn't warn you."

The seven came out of the office and walked toward Illyria, who was seated on a chair. The Slayers had stayed a good distance away from her, not knowing for sure if she was volatile, but getting the sense that she was extremely temperamental. She stood as the group approached.

"Illyria," Buffy said, "we took a vote and… decided that you should stay here awhile."

She merely stared at Buffy with her intense eyes, something that started to make the Slayer a tad uncomfortable.

"Uh," Buffy continued, shaking off the feeling, "some of us were even hoping that you might be persuaded to, uh, give us a hand, you know, with our problem."

"You would have me abandon my pursuit of vengeance against the Wolf, Ram, & Hart to aid you in your own battles?" Illyria asked in aversion.

"I know it hardly seems fair," Buffy replied, "but you'd be helping us out a lot. I know you'd be honoring Wesley if you did. And you'll probably get to kill a lot of things too. That's a plus."

Illyria looked at the Slayer in silence and contemplated the offer for a few moments. After a few seconds, she replied, "Very well. I accept your proposal... on one condition."

"Condition?' Buffy asked incredulously. "Illyria, some of us don't even want you here. Had things gone a different way, you'd have been kicked out soon as we came out of the office. I think you got a pretty good break just getting to stay here."

"It is a small request," she said. "Considering I am giving up my agenda to help further yours, I think it only fair."

Taking a moment to look around at the pseudo-committee, Buffy sighed and said, "Alright. What is it?"

"That he be my new Qwa'Ha'Xahn," she replied as she pointed to Giles.

"What?!" Sara exclaimed.

"Now hold on..." Buffy started to say before Sara interrupted her.

"Who do you think you are making a request like that?" Sara yelled as she walked up to Illyria. "How dare you!"

"Be grateful I did not request command of your troops!" Illyria shot back.

At that, Buffy and Willow were about to speak. Though Willow had supported allowing her to stay, she was just as shocked as anyone at Illyria's audacity. She and Buffy were prepared to give her a piece of their minds… once Sara stopped her tirade. Which, they thought, didn't look like it was going to happen soon.

"Be grate…?" Sara muttered in surprise. "You think you can just waltz in here and start making demands just because you get to be on the team? Some of us don't even want you here; _I_ don't want you here! And if you think for once that Giles is going to be your stupid little guide, you can just…"

"I'll do it," Giles said.

Everyone turned around to look at the man still on the mend, his breathing assisted through tubes in his nostrils. "What did you say, Giles?" Buffy asked in surprise.

"I said I'll do it. I'll be Illyria's guide."

"Then it's settled," Illyria said.

Sara stared at Giles wide-eyed and said, "Excuse me, everyone, but I think Giles and I need to have a little talk." From her tone, everyone knew what 'talk' meant. She stormed toward the office, Giles following behind her. Once he entered in, she forcefully slammed the door.

"'I'll do it?'," she said, repeating Giles' statement. "I know we've both been out of the dating game for awhile now, but I thought it was customary to talk to your significant other _before_ making big decisions!"

"Sara..."

"Giles, we have enough challenges as it is. And now you go and do something like this, just when we're starting our relationship? How could you do that?"

Giles stood speechless. He knew any reason he could offer would be more than inadequate.

"Look," Sara continued, "I know you feel bad about that Fred kid. Believe me, I do too. I think it's lousy what happened to her. But to agree to be that thing's qua'… quasi…"

"Qwa'Ha'Xahn," Giles corrected.

"Whatever! The point is that you agreed to do this without even talking to me! It makes me think you aren't even serious about us."

"Sara, please…"

"No, Giles," she said as she put up her hands. "I'm really upset. I can't talk to you right now. I just… I'm going." She grabbed her jacket and left the office. As she started to leave the building, she stopped and gave Illyria a menacing glare. Illyria merely stood expressionless, as if the gesture didn't faze her at all. Continuing on her way, Sara left toward the front door.

"Pez, where are you…?" Ling began to ask, until Willow put her hand on the girl's shoulder and shook her head, signaling to the Ling that it was best to leave the cop alone.

"Sara, please! I…" Giles pleaded as she left, rushing as fast as he could behind her. Once she was out the door, he stopped in his tracks. He hung his head low, and began to wonder how he could go about fixing the new predicament in his life.

At that moment Buffy decided to deal their new guest, as well as leave Giles to himself, and said, "Adrienne, could you could show Illyria where she'll be staying?"

"Um… sure," she replied, reluctant to show the new resident to her quarters. "Yeah, uh, this way, Illyria."

As they walked toward the steps, Buffy said, "Let's call it a night, everyone. I think it's best we get back to dealing with Amy. We go back to regular patrols starting tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah... this'll work out great," Rona muttered cynically as they all started to disperse.

* * *

Buffy walked near the study, knowing Giles was in the room. He was sitting in a chair, a long look on his face. He had been there for an hour, ever since Sara left, thinking how he could possibly screw up a new relationship so bad in just a matter of days. Walking over to him, she said, "Hey, Giles." 

"Oh… hello, Buffy. I was just, well, trying to sort out some things."

"I figured you were," she said.

"I suppose my decision to be Illyria's guide wasn't the brightest decision to make in a new relationship."

"As far as boyfriend maneuvers go, that was pretty bad. Why'd you do it?"

Letting out a loud sigh, he said, "I was hoping it could make up for what happened it Fred. At the time I thought I made the right decision. But some time after I kept thinking that maybe it wasn't a Wolfram & Hart trick and that I had turned my back on someone needing help. I put it out of my mind, though, after awhile. But when Illyria showed up, I began to feel guilty and… reacted."

"Giles," Buffy said, "you can't keep doing this. You've got Willow mad at you, Sara furious with you, and I'm not too pleased with you either. You should have told us Angel called. I know you're just trying to protect everyone, and I know we're in a vulnerable position, having to rebuild everything from the ground up. But we need to be able to trust each other and talk to each other before making big decisions. And that goes double if you plan on having a relationship with Sara."

"I know. It was foolish and inconsiderate. I'm sorry… I should have told you what happened."

"I'm more mad at Angel," Buffy said. "Stupid, heroic, Angel. He didn't tell me anything. We could have backed him up, maybe sent him a few Slayers to help even the odds. And don't get me started on Spike; a little heads-up would have been nice. But every time I get mad at Angel for not letting me know anything, I understand why he didn't. And it makes me love him and hate him all the more."

"He was trying to protect us," Giles said, "trying to protect you. Wolfram & Hart wouldn't have a reason to go after you if you weren't involved."

"I get that. And it makes me angry, not just with him, but with myself, because all this time I questioned his commitment to being a champion. I'm angry that I couldn't do anything for him, but at the same time, I love him all the more for what he did." Taking a deep breath in, she sighed. "It doesn't matter now," she said. "All I know is that I'll pick up where he and the others left off."

"What do you mean? You're not thinking of taking on Wolfram & Hart, are you?" Giles asked anxiously.

"Not now," she said, "and maybe not for a long time, but sooner or later. Our paths will cross; that's a given. But when they do, I want to be ready. I want to be ready to strike, and strike hard."

"I thought you weren't going to take these girls against Wolfram & Hart," Giles said.

"Not under Illyria, and not anytime soon. But the fact is that one day what they want and what we want _will_ come in conflict. And when that happens, I don't want us caught off-guard."

"Are you sure this is business and not personal?" he asked. He wanted to be sure; he _had _to be sure.

"It's both," she replied. "To say this isn't personal would be a lie. They'll pay for what they did. But you know as well as I do that one day the Slayers and Wolfram & Hart will clash. And I want to make sure we're prepared. One thing Takagi said about Amy that's been sticking with me is her decision to take one of Sun Tzu's deception principles to heart. I want to do the same thing with the Senior Partners. When our paths do cross, I want them thinking we're too weak to take them on." Her voice then lowered in tone, almost to a subtle growl. "I want to bide my time, make preparations, slip in… and have myself a real good day. But not today. Until then, I'll deal with what needs to be dealt with." Snapping out of her little speech, she merely said, "Uh, good night, Giles."

"Uh, good night... Buffy." Giles looked at his former charge as she walked away, disturbed more than he thought he could be. Rarely had she ever displayed such dark emotions. The words she spoke had shaken him to his core. What scared him more, though, was that she was right: sooner or later they would come head-to-head with Wolfram & Hart. The only question was when. And he for one hoped that day would not be for a long, long, _long _time.


	15. Chapter XV

_**ATTENTION READERS: The previous entry I submitted for this chapter was a rougher draft and not my updated one. I made two versions that differed and got them mixed up. Below is the correct one. Sorry for the confusion.**_

**Majin Gojira: **I did encounter problems with "cliché-ness", but after careful thinking I'm not sure it could be avoided. Trust me, the next story (and subsequent stories) will be taken in some interesting directions. I hope you'll keep following. Not only that, but your constructive criticisms make sure I try and make a good story. Hope you're happy so far. Thanks.**  
**

**Bob-From-Accounting: **Thanks for sticking around with my story so far. I thought about whether or not to have Illyria help them and I settled on having her do so, but only for something in return. It seemed the most plausible (as she is almost fully narcissistic) and would create some more tension within the group. And always glad for reviews. As to your question of other TC characters making it into this story: it's a possibility, but I wouldn't bet anything on it. I've loaded this thing up with a lot of people so far and too many cooks spoil the broth. However, there is always a chance...

**To my other readers:** Thanks very much for taking the time to read this stuff. It's not easy trying to make a halfway decent story, but you guys are making it worth it.

Enjoy, friendly readers. **_Reviews are quite welcomed._**

* * *

_**11:13 pm, Saturday - Sara Pezzini's Apartment**_

"Sara? It's Giles. I just… you know… I wanted to talk, about what happened. Please give me a call as soon as you get this."

"Sara, it's Giles again. I know you're upset, but I know we can work things out. Please call me."

"Um… Sara? It's Giles again. Please, I just… I just want to talk."

Those were just a few of the messages that Giles had left on her voice mail. It had been a day since she left the Slayer base and that was also the amount of time that passed between she and Giles speaking. He had left the messages hoping she would talk to him. But she wasn't going to, at least for awhile. She needed some alone time, to contemplate whether or not her new relationship was going to be worth the uncertainty and hassle of unexpected, and unwanted, challenges to it. She had drowned herself in work for part of the day, and spent the rest of it milling about and watching old movies. She also spent some time deleting every message that came from her contending-to-be-ex boyfriend. As it began to get late, her form once again adorned her couch for the night, she turned off the lights and drifted to a peaceful sleep.

She awoke to find herself in an underground shelter of some sort. Brick surrounded the room and there was no discernible entrance to it. She hadn't realized she drifted so far into sleep. Looking at the gritty area she knew immediately what was happening. It had happened before a few times and she was hoping it would happen again soon, as she needed the help. Of course, sometimes the former Bladewielders weren't always as obliging as she wanted them to be.

Sara saw a figure materialize in the room. As the figure became clearer and clearer and its features became finer she saw it was a woman in an outfit dated from the 1940's. It was her grandmother, Elizabeth. Elizabeth walked up to her and stopped about a foot away from Sara, looking at her granddaughter with stern eyes.

"I've been meaning to talk to you," Sara said. "I need your help."

"Our help?" Elizabeth replied questioningly. "You already have help."

"No, things are getting out of control. I'm trying as hard as I can, but it seems more and more like everything's slipping away."

"You possess all of the tools necessary to defeat this enemy. And yet, you do not utilize them."

"What do you mean?" Sara asked defensively. "I've been doing all I can to stop her."

"Have you? You are the Bladewielder and yet you shrink in fear of the power it presents you. You've restrained yourself and now the consequences are evident."

"Are you saying… this is all my fault?" Sara asked, fearful of Elizabeth's response.

"The Usurper has done everything to insult the Blade and commits grievous acts of evil wherever she sets foot," Elizabeth said, the anger in her voice creeping out. "You've not done what is necessary to oppose her. You quibble about the responsibilities and hold yourself back from being what you are truly capable of being."

"Are you saying I should have killed her in cold blood, like a murderer?"

"We're not saying anything, only that you lack the will to do what is necessary to carry out your duties, to defeat her."

"And what will I need to stop her?" Sara asked.

"You'll understand… soon," Elizabeth replied. "But that is another matter. There is something else that you must see."

"What is it?"

"We will show you," Elizabeth said.

Their surroundings had started to change. The brick of the walls shifted and blurred until they were no more, the innards replaced by the emptiness of black night. Slowly, the floor changed into small bits and pieces of rock, the pieces little bigger than pebbles. Out of the darkness shapes and things started to form, people and structures. Sara saw a blurry figure on the ground. As the surroundings came into focus, she realized who it was: it was herself, bloodied and beaten by Amy, who was nearby coursing deadly energy through Michelle. Buffy, Willow, and the Slayers were battled the cadre of vampires that were there. All was still, like a snapshot had been taken of the moment.

"Now you will see," Elizabeth said.

The scene started, like someone had pressed 'Play'. Sara saw her nearly broken form pick herself up and launch into a double leg kick into Amy, thus saving Michelle. Amy, enraged, picked herself off of the ground and was ready to attack until Buffy, Willow, and the Slayers confronted her. The scene stopped.

"Do you see it?" Elizabeth asked.

"What?" Sara asked in return, not sure of what her grandmother was talking about. "What am I supposed to see?"

"In the Usurper's eyes," Elizabeth replied. "What do you see?"

The scene rewound and played again slowly from the moment Amy had gotten off of the ground. As soon as Buffy, Willow, and the Slayers confronted her, Sara noticed something in Amy's eyes.

"I see it," Sara whispered in an astonished voice.

Sara had looked at Willow's hands. They were covered in flames, ready to do damage to those opposing them. Buffy herself held her scythe at the ready. Amy's eyes had flashed in fear for a moment before they returned to the cold, dark look that she showed everyone, from her own lackeys to her enemies.

"Why?" Sara asked. "Why is she afraid?"

"The Usurper forged a copy through her deception, but she did not count on one thing: its own limitations. Her forgery cannot sustain itself,  
since it is not the true Witchblade. She sacrifices her own power to keep it from dying out. Otherwise, its strength would diminish."

"And if she uses that power against us, she'll drain herself and her copy is worthless," Sara reasoned. "Why do you show me this now? Why not months ago? What was the point in keeping this from me?"

"Because it is necessary for you to understand what is needed to stop her and others like her," Elizabeth replied. "You believe this information gives you an advantage. But we both know what the desperate do when they're desperate."

"They'll do anything to keep their power," Sara answered. "Is this what I needed to learn to stop her?"

"This is but part of it. You must seek out the rest."

"How?" Sara asked, her voice full with anxiety. "How can I seek it out?"

"Through us. The time will come when you will know when to do so, when there is no other choice. You must be strong, Sara, or you will fail and the world will suffer. It is up to you to stem the swelling tide and beat back the darkness. That is why the Witchblade came to you and that is what you are tasked with." Elizabeth began to fade and once again Sara's surroundings started to blur.

"Wait!" Sara yelled. "Please, don't leave! I have to know! Please!"

"The fate of the world rests on your shoulders, Sara," Elizabeth voice echoed. "Your strength and your courage will determine this outcome. Your friends have been invaluable, but your actions will be the deciding factor. Do not fail."

"Please, tell me what I need to know! I have to know!"

As her grandmother disappeared Sara's surroundings became red, like a cloud of blood enveloped her. The cloud began to coalesce into what looked to be a hand. The hand itself was menacing, the fingers coming to sharp points at each end. Sara heard a loud growl and turned around slowly, her heart racing faster and faster. What she saw filled her with a fear unlike any she had ever felt before. It was a figure that covered head-to-toe in imposing armor. Its eyes stared at her murderously, as if it had already made up its mind on what to do with her. The figure's hand wrapped around Sara and lifted her up. It drew her closer and closer to its face and its metallic jaws opened. Sara's breathing became labored as she tried to wrest herself from its grip. Seeing the futility of her efforts she yelled out, "Help! Help!"

No one came.

Closer and closer she came to its gaping, sharp maw, furiously trying to pry herself from its ominous grip. So wrapped up in freeing herself she didn't notice how close she was to its mouth. She looked up and did the only thing she could do at the moment: she screamed.

* * *

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Sara yelled as she woke up screaming her head off and sweating profusely. She ungracefully fell off of the couch, wrapped in her thin blanket and among a heap of pillows. Crawling frantically out of the tangled mess she crawled over and sat up against the wall, her eyes wide open. Seeing she was still in her apartment, she began to calm down considerably and wiped the sweat from her beleaguered face. She got up and walked over to the table where her cell phone was charging, grabbed it, and dialed. 

"Hello?" the woman on the other end said.

"Buffy? It's Sara. I'm coming over. Get the committee together; it's urgent."

"Is everything alright? Buffy asked.

"I'll discuss it when I get there," Sara replied.

Sara had thrown on some clothes and raced over to the Slayer building. Though she wasn't told much, it was enough to warrant a meeting. She thought that maybe together, she and the others could come up with a solution for what was coming.

She rode up to the building, her heart racing as she jumped off her bike and ran around the back to the secret entrance. At night, the reinforced steel doors went into place automatically, in case someone was bold enough to try a frontal assault. The door to the small alcove that held the steel door was a plain-looking one, metal and intricately designed. It was designed that way to be as subtle as possible to anyone passing by; it's other function was to lure any ne'er-do-wells to be viewed through the video camera peeking outside of the steel door. Of course, to view any suspicious people outside your door using a video camera required an _actual _video camera. Unfortunately, budget issues and such had stalled that particular portion.

Sara went through the secret entrance in the basement and walked upstairs. She was just about to walk into the lobby when she saw Giles coming from the kitchen. Slightly startled by her appearance he looked at her, hoping there was something in her that would forgive his thoughtless deed the day before. He slowly approached her.

"Sara," he started apologetically, "I… I... I'm sorry."

"So you told me..." she replied, "a lot, actually. You know, I've had a day to think about what happened yesterday. And having your dead grandmother talk to you puts things in perspective." Giles furrowed his brow in confusion at that. Walking up to him she continued. "Giles, I want this thing to work."

"Me too," he replied.

"But to do that, we need to start communicating. Not just talking… _communicating_. We can't take on Amy if we aren't even on the same page. And we can't be together if we don't trust each other."

"I know," he said. Walking over to her with his oxygen tank in tow, he asked, "So... does that mean I'm forgiven?"

Sara smiled and moved up closer to him. Standing face to face, she replied, "You're forgiven." She then kissed him slowly and softly. Pulling away, she added, "I'll just borrow your Velvet Underground album for awhile."

"What?" Giles asked in surprise.

"I'll just grab it from your room after the meeting."

"But… but…" he stuttered.

"Well, normally I'd ask you to cook a nice dinner to make up, but since it'll be few weeks before you're all healed, and I'll probably forget by then, I'll just borrow your album. My dad had one back when I was a kid, but I kind of broke it when I was running in the house. Did I ever get it _that _day. I mean, who knew it could fly that far?"

Giles whimpered at the thought of his precious album spinning through the air and crashing into a wall, its pieces flying about.

"Thanks, Giles," she said sweetly.

_The things I do for love_, he thought as he Sara made her way toward the lobby. Shaking his head, he followed her in.

"Hey, Pez," Monica said as Sara entered. Sara saw everyone who was supposed to attend waiting for her to arrive. Unfortunately, she also saw the one person she'd hoped wouldn't be coming: Illyria. She walked over to the Ancient One and said, "This goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: If you ever, _ever_ hurt Giles…" She brought out her short blade and held it up. "This'll be the last thing you ever see. Understand?"

Illyria just looked at Sara, seemingly unfazed by the gesture. Then she tilted her head and said, "You care for him greatly." It wasn't a question.

"Yes," Sara replied, "I do."

"Just like the shell Fred cared for Wesley," Illyria muttered, her features saddened again. Gathering herself, she said, "No harm will come to him."

As the other Slayers started to gather around, Kennedy said, "Alright, Pez, you got us together here for a reason. What's going on?"

Illyria stepped closer to hear the cop, to which Sara sighed and asked, "Does she have to be here?"

"Well, she _is_ part of the group now," Giles replied.

"My presence offends you," Illyria said.

"To say the least," Sara replied whimsically. "Is that one of your superpowers... a knack for understatement?"

"Sara!" Buffy interjected, tiring of the barbs. "Can we get to the reason why we're all here?"

"I was visited," the cop replied.

"By who?" Monica asked.

"My grandmother."

"Your grandmother? Wait, I thought your grandmother was dead," said Willow. "I mean, how could she… oh."

"Yeah, it's like that," Sara replied as Willow caught on.

"What did she say?" Rona asked.

"Basically that the world would be over if I didn't stop Amy," she replied.

"Wow... such insight," Buffy quipped. "She showed up just to tell you something we all knew _months_ ago? Talk about Captain Obvious."

"It's what she showed me, Buffy," Sara replied pointedly.

"And that is…?"

"She took me back to the night I went after Amy. She replayed some of it for me, and I saw something none of us noticed the first time around."

"What did you see?" Willow asked.

"I saw fear in her eyes, hesitation. She was scared."

"Of what?" Kennedy asked.

"Elizabeth told me that Amy's Witchblade can't sustain itself. She's been using her own power to keep it intact to keep it functioning. But if she uses that her power and drains herself…"

"Her Witchblade is nothing but a new paperweight," Buffy interjected.

"Exactly," said Sara.

"Well… that's _some_ good news," Monica said.

"Yeah, it is," Rona said. "The only problem is we'll never get close enough to Amy to get her to drain herself. With her money, bodyguards, and access to anywhere she wants to go, we can't touch her."

"But we've at least got something to work with," Buffy said. "That maybe enough to get started on a plan. Though, I'm confused about why we weren't told this earlier. I mean, what is it with good guys and communication of the need-to-know stuff?"

"Wait…" Giles said as if he was starting to realize something. "Why was Amy so bent on killing us the night of the ambush?"

"She wanted us out of the way," replied Monica, putting the answer in the simplest possible terms.

"Yes, but why then? Why didn't she do it earlier? Our informant told Sara that he was forced to feed us info for a few months to build up our confidence."

"Sean said that Amy knew you guys had a tendency to mess up well-laid plans at the last minute," Sara said.

"And Takagi mentioned Amy must be planning something since her little empire is crumbling," Buffy said.

"And from Sara's account of the night of her confrontation with Amy, she acquired what looked to be a small round object from Devlin Post," Giles said. "Now we find out her copy of the Witchblade is slowly degrading without her as a power source. So the question is: why try and kill us the day before the stone was acquired?"

"She needs it," Buffy reasoned. "It's connected to all of this."

"Exactly," Giles replied.

"Okay, but Amy has a Witchblade she can barely use because it needs juice," Kennedy said. "What good is some chunk of rock?"

"That depends," he replied. "Sara, did you get a good look at the stone Post delivered?"

"Not really. All I know is that it was small and round, but I only got a moment's look from my binoculars."

"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking, Giles?" Willow asked.

"The stones of Valtorek," Giles replied.

"Huh?" a confused Sara asked.

"There's an old legend of three small, perfectly cut stones, created by a mage in ancient times," Giles began to explain. "It was written that he journeyed to nearby volcano and used the lava and his own blood to create these stones. Together, they were capable of drawing the earth's energies and channeling them into the user."

"And you think Amy's looking for these stones to get a boost?" Buffy asked.

"It would make _some_ sense," Giles replied, "except that these stones are mostly relegated to folklore and myth. And even if they were real, it was said that they produced painful physical side effects after prolonged use. Some sources even say the mage went mad because of crippling headaches after he scattered the stones across the world. But why on earth would Amy even think of subjecting herself to that kind of experience?"

"When she's got a nice, shiny Witchblade to counter those effects," Buffy replied.

"You don't think…?" Giles asked Buffy.

"Think about it for a second: the Witchblade is capable of accelerated healing, right? So, what if it can counter those negative side effects, or at least minimize them? Amy would have an unlimited power resource. And considering our luck with objects that supposedly don't exist, we might not want to throw out the possibility."

"If she gets these things," Sara said, "and if they do what you say they do, Giles, we won't be able to stop her."

"Then we'd better figure out something quick," Rona said. "Does the Council know where the other stones are kept?"

"No," replied Giles. "And that's assuming she didn't have the other two before she acquired the one from Post."

"What's worse is it's said you can find the other two with just one stone," Willow said.

"Oh, that's just great…" Rona muttered cynically.

"Guess we better shore up the defenses," Buffy said.

"Hold on…" Sara interjected, "you're telling me the only thing we can do for the time being is beef up our defenses and _wait_ to see if Amy's got all the stones?"

"Um, unfortunately… that may be the case," Giles replied sheepishly.

"What about Willow?" Sara asked. "I mean, can't she just sense the other stones and find them?"

"Alone, they're not much better than museum pieces," Willow said. "If they were together I could get a bead on them. But if they're together, finding them is the least of our problems."

"I can't believe there's nothing we can do," Sara said dejectedly. She then perked up. "Or maybe there is..."

"What do you mean?" Giles asked.

"Elizabeth told me that I wasn't doing everything necessary to stop Amy. She told me I had to seek out what was needed to stop her and that my actions would decide if we succeed or fail."

"Got any clue what she meant?" Buffy inquired. Deep down inside, though, the Slayer knew the answer. _The fate of the world is in Sara's hands?_ she thought. _So much for that trip back to Italy._

"Good guys and communication, Buffy," Sara quipped.

"Why am I not surprised?"

The group stood in silence at their circumstances. The situation looked bleak. It would require more than a few sleepless nights to put together a contingency plan in case Amy got what she wanted. And it would take even more sleepless nights to try and find the stones before she did. It was only a couple of moments after the awkward silence that Buffy said, "Alright, I'm calling it a night. We can try and figure out strategies for this thing tomorrow. We've been in hopeless situations before and we've come out on top. For now, we should all get some rest."

Taking her suggestion, the group began to disperse, Illyria included. Curiosity on her face, she asked Monica brusquely, "Why do you not simply attack her now that you know she is vulnerable?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Monica replied.

"Complicated?" Illyria replied. "Before our battle against the Circle I told Angel that to rule his kingdom he had to serve no ambition but his own, that he had to be willing to do anything to achieve his goal. And it seems he listened to my counsel." She looked at Sara directly and asked, "Are you willing to do the same? Are you willing to do anything, even jeopardize those you have befriended, to annihilate your enemy?"

"I'll do what I need to do," Sara replied, in an irritated tone.

Pausing for a moment and staring at Sara, she said, "That remains to be seen."

As the group started to disperse, Giles went over to Sara and asked, "Are you alright?"

Taking a deep breath and sighing, she replied, "I'm just on edge." Looking at him with tired eyes and an upset demeanor, she said, "Giles, I have no clue what I need to stop Amy. All Elizabeth said is that I'd have to seek it out and that I'd know when. I mean, talk about cryptic."

"You'll figure it out; _we'll_ figure it out, together."

"Hopefully," Sara said. _There's that word again_, she thought. _God, I'm really starting to hate it._

"Sara, I promise you that as long as I draw breath I will help you in any way I can."

With that, Sara smiled and moved closer to Giles, who wrapped her in his tender embrace. It was funny; possessing the Witchblade and being one of the most fearless and dedicated detectives of the NYPD and she never felt safer or more comfortable than when she was with him. She only wanted that feeling to last as long as possible, until the end of time if it she could. In her harsh, cold, and dark world, it was the only thing that felt warm and sure.

* * *

"You know, Birdie, I've spent the last few years trying to make a way for myself, to forge a future for myself. And in one single night, that almost went down in flames. I paid you a good sum of money and, despite that, you told that cop about what I was doing. You nearly messed up a very carefully laid plan. I could've have been killed that night, and years of work would've gone to waste." 

Birdie tried in futility to look for some way out of his situation, his hands bound with rope and hanging from a hook.

"Look at me... look at me!" Amy shouted as she smacked him.

"You know what it was like to explain to the cops that some intruders assaulted me on my lot? That was tough… a bruise to the ego. But you know what was tougher?" She brought out her short blade and stuck it in his leg. Birdie screamed out in pain.

"Having to watch that Slayer and her groupies look at me with their smug faces, like they've always done, like they were better than me! You know how that feels? It's insulting and degrading. It stung, Birdie, stung a hell of a lot… kind of like this!" She stuck the blade into his other leg.

"But it doesn't matter," she said after she pulled the blade out. "Soon, I'll have enough power to wipe them out. Then this city… this world… will be mine for the taking. I'll create something that'll stand up to anything and anyone. And it'll make Buffy, Willow, and Sara wish they were never born. It's just a matter of time." Amy let out a loud sigh after her tirade and looked at a bleeding Birdie. "Such a shame you won't be around to see it."

"Please, please..." he cried.

"You're begging for you life, " she replied at his pleas. "Good... at least I'll have one nice memory of you years from now."

Amy approached him, her metal-covered hand imposing itself upon his forehead. Gripping it, she sent streams of red-hued electricity through his body. Birdie started to scream and violently convulse, as if his hold body was threatening to explode. A few seconds later his body sank and he ceased to move, blood oozing from his nose and eyes.

Sean had seen the whole thing and winced. His mistress could be truly sadistic and merciless once she put her mind to it. She had promised him, along with others who had supported her, human or otherwise, that once she gained enough power they would be greatly rewarded. While some were dismayed that Tarchannen was just a mere human female, they saw what she was able to accomplish and hung around, hoping for a good piece of the action of whatever she was planning. And that was worth sticking around for.

"What's the word on Devlin?" Amy asked.

"He's searching for it even as we speak, Mistress," Sean replied. "Do you really think he'll find it? And if so, can we trust him?"

"Post doesn't have a clue what I'm planning," she said. "He's money-hungry and bent on revenge against Giles and the others. Still, I've got things in place, just in case he does decide to play hardball with my merchandise."

"Very good, ma'am," Sean replied.

"Get rid of the body," she ordered. "And move tomorrow's meeting to ten o'clock; I want to make sure we're all set up. The Triads have been making some moves into my territory and I want to send a clear message that such things won't be tolerated."

"It'll be done," he replied. As he went to aid the disposing of Birdie's body, Amy stopped him.

"And Sean… make sure the spa has _sparkling _water tomorrow in my room. Understood?"

"Of course," he replied.

Amy smiled and went over to her limo, away from the empty building. Sitting down inside, she smiled to herself. "Just a few more things," she said, "and I'll wipe those smug faces off personally." Rolling down the privacy window, she ordered her driver to take her back home, assured as the car rode away that the fate that came upon Birdie awaited everyone who stood against her. Like she had said before, it was only a matter of time. She wore a vicious smile at the thought of Sara, Buffy, and Willow dying at her hands, their faces and bodies contorted in terror and grief, not only because of their fate, but the fact that all of their training and preparing would be for naught.. Such thoughts, as well as the idea of a relaxing afternoon at the spa, always brought a smile to her face. As the car sped off into the darkness, she was confident that the days ahead were going to be rewarding, that only though her rapacious ambition and ruthless drive would she secure her prize: bringing the world to its knees.

**End Urbs Spei**

* * *

**To the readers: ** Hey, everyone. You've stuck around so far, so why not go the distance? I'm about to start penning portions of part III in the story. However, since there is a time gap between 'Urbs Sanguinis' and 'Urbs Spei' and there are some short stories I want to do for that time period, it might be a while before anything definitive gets put down. Hopefully, you'll like the short in-betweeners. Stay tuned. 


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